Kill la Minus
by Genericside
Summary: 'Kill la Minus is set in Honnōji Academy before it was taken over by Satsuki Kiryūin. The plot involves various Kill la Kill characters interacting with Kumagawa Misogi (an antagonist in the Medaka Box series). Things predictably go downhill from there...'
1. Chapter 1: Nobody's Fault but Mine

_'Wildly Unnecessary Disclaimer: I do not own Kill la Kill and Medaka Box. They are property of Studio Trigger and Nisio Isin, respectively. Enjoy!'_

**Chapter 1: Nobody's Fault but Mine**

When Satsuki Kiryūin, a slim teenage girl with long black hair, bushy eyebrows (who had almost always carried a serious frown on her face) first viewed Honnōji Academy from her mother's satellite imagery, she was less than impressed by what she saw. Upon entering the campus, nothing affirmed her of her disappointment. There was no order whatsoever. On the lower levels, the slums were lined with thugs, brutes and other undesirables. With that said, the school itself was relatively peaceful to what was occurring at the lower levels.

She wore the standard Honnōji girl's outfit which was an average school sailor uniform. Sheathed at her side was Bazukan; a blade that could cut through anything. Her allies, who she planned on reuniting with when they had all reached Honnōji campus, all had their newly crafted Goku uniforms on.

As she strode through the insanely long steps, only noticing that there was a lift to the academy after reaching the top, she began to see students running to and fro as if some big event was about to proceed. Wiping a bead of sweat of her forehead from the long climb, the only thing on her mind was reuniting with Gamagori and the others.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?!" a voice yelled from near the entrance to the school.

A crowd had formed at the source of the load noise. Curious as to what the whole debacle was about, Satsuki walked into the crowd that gathered around the source of the yelling. As she got to the front, she witnessed, what appeared to be, an unevenly matched fight about to unfold at the center of the crowd. In the left corner stood a group of large students carrying bats, knives, and other assorted weapons.

On the right, stood a single 2nd year, with his face buried in a Shōnen Jump magazine. He wore a buttoned-up, dark-blue student's uniform, had clear-blue eyes, black messy hair, and was a slim young man at average height. Despite his meek and average appearance, Satsuki couldn't shake this ominous feeling she had when looking at him.

"You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here!" yelled the largest of the 3rd years, carrying a titanium bat. He was a big man with brown spiky hair and various piercings. He wore the standard Honnōji academy uniform.

Instead of answering, the 2nd year kept his eyes fully attentive to the turning of the Shōnen Jump magazine pages. The 3rd year's nerves had visibly popped at this display of willful ignorance. With a swift movement of his titanium bat, the large 3rd year sliced the magazine completely to pieces. The crowd, including Satsuki, was visibly impressed by the large 3rd year's knife-like bat swings.

"Listen to me, you damn punk!" It took the 2nd year about three seconds to process the destruction of his precious manga. The 3rd years started laughing, urging everyone else to laugh with them, but they, including Satsuki, just kept silent.

"Now are you gonna listen to what I have to say?! Or do I have to beat the crap out of your boyfriend too?" the large 3rd year pointed the bat threateningly towards another shorter boy with greasy brown hair. Seeing the bat loom over him made him physically jump in fear.

"[Damn...]" the 2nd year muttered as he glossed over the torn pages.

Nothing about the 2nd year's position seemed to change; not even the smile on his face. The 3rd years, on the other hand, froze up like prey to a predator; their bravado quickly consumed by whatever they saw developing from the 2nd year.

"Boss. I think we should run. I have a bad feeling about this," said one of the goons.

"You wanna run away like a coward?! FINE! I'm going to stay here an' beat that smug grin clear off!" proclaimed the largest of the 3rd years who was clearly the leader.

"But Boss. Your legs are shaking."

"Shu-Shaddup!"

"[I don't know what hole you crawled out of, but that was a limited edition Shōnen Jump title that I was enjoying. That you destroyed!]"

The 2nd year leaped over right to the large 3rd year's face at a swift speed that stunned everyone, including Satsuki. It took the large 3rd year about five seconds to process this before he jumped back in a fit of both fear and rage. The 2nd year continued grinning.

"[I lied! That was just some random manga I found lying on the floor. But still, please don't go around destroying people's things.]"

_How did that 2nd year go from point A to point B in a matter of seconds? And what kind of person was he that those 3rd years would show fear and caution towards despite him not doing anything beyond standing there and smiling? _Satsuki pondered as she witnessed the event. Her mind drifted to recalling someone she knew who had a similar personality.

The large 3rd year, now without his goons, started bashing with all his strength at the 2nd year who made no attempt whatsoever to dodge. The crowd of onlookers just gazed in horror as the 2nd year was pulverized over and over again by the large 3rd year's attacks. Even so, the 2nd year never dropped his smile.

Each successive hit did not at all seem to satisfy the large 3rd year. In fact, it was more like every second of interaction with the 2nd year was eating away at his soul and making him physically and mentally weaker. In a gouge of fear and hysteria, the 3rd year finally bashed the 2nd year's brains out, killing him. Breathing heavily, the 3rd year turned to the crowd of onlookers.

"What?! You guys saw him too?! I had to do it! You hear me?!" he yelled hysterically. "That wasn't a human at all!"

The 2nd year came back to life a few seconds after the 3rd year turned around to point his bat at the corpse.

Satsuki was making a real effort to keep her composure at the irrationality she just witnessed: That man was just killed, and yet, he got up as if everything was okay. Moreover, all his injuries, including the cuts on his cloth were completely "restored". No, that's not right. It's as if those injuries and his dying _never even happened_.

In the microsecond it took for the 3rd year to react, the 2nd year quickly impaled him with giant screws. All the crowd could do was scream in terror, but the mysterious 2nd year never dropped his smile.

"That's impossible. How can you still be alive?!" asked the 3rd year in between fits of coughing blood.

"[Good job, nameless 3rd year-chan! It's my loss!]"

The 2nd year then viscerally impaled the 3rd year's head with another giant screw he seemed to grab out of nowhere. In an instant, the large 3rd year was revived, but the memories of the 2nd year reduced him to a shell of his former self.

* * *

As quickly as the crowd developed, everyone, but Satsuki and Nonon Jakuzure (one of her allies), who was in the crowd as well, the 2nd year, and his assistant, left. The 2nd year glossed over the people still standing where the crowd used to be. Satsuki gave up on rationalizing the bout between the 2nd and 3rd year and placed all her energy on to keeping a firm composure.

The large 3rd year placed his arms and legs in a fetal position. Satsuki could barely hear his mumbling to himself, "Not a human, not a human, not a human..." repeatedly.

"[Ah!]" the 2nd year sounded when he saw Satsuki. "[You must be one of the new transfer students, if I'm not mistaken?]" Despite his words, he casually approached Satsuki like he had known her for years.

"[Usually, people tend to run away whenever I'm done being attacked]" he explained in a cheerful tone. "[So I can tell that you're new here!]"

"[I'm Kumagawa Misogi: General Affairs Manager extraordinaire.]"

"Actually, Senpai," the assistant spoke up. "That would be my job. You're the Student Council President. Remember?" he corrected.

Kumagawa shrugged his shoulders at his assistant's remark. "[Damn! Can't anyone take a joke these days?!]"

"My name is Kiryūin Satsuki," Satsuki replied with her trademark serious frown. "It is indeed a pleasure to meet you, Kumagawa-san." She was lying, of course. If he was the Student Council President, then she would have to fight him in the end. Such was the purpose of her coming to this academy. Still, the way he dispatched of those vagrants was in some way elegant. He didn't just destroy them physically, but mentally, as well. Despite his scrawny appearance, Sastsuki believed this Kumagawa to be sort of combat genius like herself. She had met many Student Council Presidents like Kumagawa and always carried a form of respect towards them, before utterly destroying them.

"[Whoa! So respectfu!]" the perpetually smiling Kumagawa remarked. "[You can learn a thing or two from her, Suzu-kun.]"

"[I was supposed to wait for you to come to my office, but then I got jumped by these guys.]" he explained while glaring at the half-insane 3rd year. "[Wow! I can actually kill two birds with one stone!]"

Kumagawa prompted his hand to Satsuki for a handshake.

"[It's a pleasure to meet you…]"

"Yes..." The overall cheerfulness of Kumagawa's behavior amended Satsuki of any other thoughts concerning her memories of what had happened with the 3rd years. In reaching for his hand, Satsuki thought to herself, _This Kumagawa-san might not be so bad afte_- then, mid-thought, her hand had violently snapped away from Kumagawa's hand before she could even touch it.

"[Eh? Something wrong?]" Kumagawa inquired with a suspicious lack of curiosity appearing on his face.

"No, nothing's wrong, Kumagawa-san," Satsuki quickly said, sweating.

"[Okay, then! Have a great time at our wonderful school! Make friends and learn new things!]" he exclaimed, having returned to his cheerful demeanor.

He soon left the scene, with his assistant (Suzu-kun) following behind him. And like that, the two students had faded out.

* * *

Satsuki, still standing where she had met Kumagawa, glared intently at her hand as if interrogating a murder suspect. Nonon, a short, petite pink-haired girl whose Goku uniform looked like a marching band costume, stood beside Satsuki with a feeling of both worry and curiosity into the matter pertaining _that _2nd year. Finally, Satsuki swiftly turned to Nonon, who jumped a little.

"Nonon, did you feel that?" she asked.

"Felt what, Lady Satsuki?"

"We should re-unite with the others. There needs to be a plan to deal with 'him'."

* * *

**Earlier, in the Student Council Room:**

Kumagawa Misogi was twiddling around with a rubix cube for several hours. Somehow, not only did he not manage to solve it, but he made it so every single tile was a different color from the one next to it. He then tossed the thing aside.

"[I'm bored...]"

"If you're so bored," his assistant and General Affairs Manager, Suzuki, was busy glossing over and signing various papers, "Then perhaps you can help me with this work. You are the Student Council President after all."

"[If there was only something for me to do...]" Kumagawa sighed, completely ignoring Suzuki's suggestion.

Suzuki facepalmed and then opened up the transfer section of the documents. "Fine," he said. "Here's another batch of transfers for you to screw up!"

"[Oh, Suzuki! You shouldn't have!]" Kumagawa exclaimed as tears of happiness loomed out of his eyes.

"Eugh," Suzuki sounded in disgust. Kumagawa checked over the documents. "Just don't mess them up like you did with the last transfers."

"[Wouldn't dream of it! Who's this one?]" Kumagawa handed Suzuki a document which contained the picture of a tall, black-haired girl.

"Huh? That's Satsuki Kiryuin. Her parents are supposed to be super rich elites. They own a clothing corporation called- Hey, wait! Where are you going?"

Before leaving the room, Kumagawa turned around and took one look at Suzuki. "[Isn't it obvious, Suzu-kun... I'm going to go and 'greet' her...]" He turned around and left.

Suzuki stood there for a minute. "S-scary!" he shuddered.

* * *

**Present time, at Honnoji Academy Library:**

"And that's the situation." Those words, as well as the report behind them, were uttered by Nonon in her usual annoyed way. It's not that Satsuki was incapable of relaying the information herself (considering the fact that she was the one who experienced Kumagawa first-hand). It was more, that the job of relaying information was better suited for subordinates. As a leader, Satsuki had much experience. She had assembled her Elite Four, and defeated opponent after opponent right through middle school.

But to take over a school, Satsuki didn't need to be a leader. She needed to be a commander. And it was a commander's job to make subordinates, even if they were her Elite Four, do all the _lesser_ work. Not that Ira Gamagōri (The Frog), Uzu Sanageyama (The Monkey), Nonon Jakuzure (The Snake), and Hōka Inumuta (The Dog) minded much. They were her loyal subordinates and would go to hell and back if she was ever in trouble.

"I've hack- er… _looked _up this Kumagawa-san." Hōka Inumuta, he was the brains of the group. He was sitting at the library table, along with Satsuki and Sanagayema, while typing on his laptop. By the time, Satsuki and co. arrived at Honnōji Academy, he had already compiled data on every living resident, landmark, etc. surrounding and within the area. He was a teenage boy of slim fit, with tealish hair, who wore blue shades and a one piece neck-collar Goku Uniform; everytime he spoke, the neck-collar would open up.

"Did you find anything?" Satsuki asked indifferently.

"No, Satsuki-sama. Whoever this Kumagawa person is, there isn't any information on him other than the date he enrolled. Let's see, three months ago. He was elected Student Council President two months ago."

"Thank you, Inmuta-kun." It was just like she thought. To have no records whatsoever, Kumagawa must've been under Ragyō's employ. Only her mother would have the capabilities to erase a person so completely that not even The Dog would be able to sniff out the data trail. Access to Life-Fibers would also explain the powers she saw him use in that fight with the large 3rd year. Still…

"I don't want to break all this tenseness and all, but we just transferred and we're already getting serious on our first day?" Uzu Sanageyama: He sat in his usual laid-back way, with both his feet juveniley placed on the table. He was a young man, who was a bit more muscular than Hōka and had dark green hair. His Goku uniform was a long trench coat with spikes covering the front area of his pelvis.

"UZU SANAGEYAMA! YOU DO REALIZE THAT THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MEETING CONCERNING AN IMPORTANT SITUATION THAT LADY SATSUKI HERSELF HAS DEEMED IMPORTANT!? ANY FOOLISHNES IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH!" Ira Gamagōri, Satsuki's Shield (the most loyal to her), sneaked up behind Uzu like an invisible mountain. He was talking in his usually dramatically loud way. And if you've seen how big he was, it would be impossible to resist standing to attention. Uzu was only a little fazed. He was a huge man, near his 20's who somehow managed to stay in high school. He had tan skin, yellow hair, and a frown similar to Satsuki's. His goku uniform was a relatively regular outfit which held spikes on its shoulders.

"It is okay, Gamagōri-kun. I acknowledge Sanageyama-kun's complaint about this tense atmosphere."

"Yes, Satsuki-sama. Please forgive my meddling," Ira bowed.

"Please forgive the stupid Northern Kanto Monkey for disrupting our meeting as well." Nonon (the only girl in the group other than Satsuki, and the one who knew her the longest) often teased the rest of the Elite Four any chance she could get. She was searching and dusting off old books along a ladder.

"Who're you callin' a-?!" Uzu growled as he got up from the table.

Nonon reclaimed her satisfied smirk which was lost while she relayed the information to the others. "You, idiot!"

"Grrrrrrrr."

Satsuki issued the order to stop. "ENOUGH!" That was all it took to get everyone back in line.

"Our purpose for gathering here today, is coming up with a stratagem to overthrow Student Council President Kumagawa Misogi!" Satsuki firmly gripped Bakuzan.

"Why not just beat him up and kick him out?" suggested Uzu. "I mean, going by Nonon's detail, he's nothing but a scrawny wimp when you look into it. Even with that super speed of his, with our Goku uniforms, we could easily take him out."

"Hmmm…" Satsuki had considered going in with such a blunt plan, but she had her reservations. On the one hand, she had complete trust in her subordinate's ability to delete a pest like Kumagawa. On the other hand, if Kumagawa was really someone her mother would employ, then he must've been very dangerous. Also, being under Ragyō would mean life fibers, maybe a Kamui, of his own. At that moment, something had crossed her mind:

_"Not a human, not a human, not a human..."_

"Uhm, Lady Satsuki," Hōka interrupted.

"What is it?"

Hōka had realized he was interrupting her train of thought. "I was able to get some more information on this Kumagawa, but it's still within the bounds of this academy. It's an interim on the elections between Kumagawa and the previous Student Council President."

"Well, what's it say?" Nonon butted in.

Everyone else, but Satsuki, leaned in closer to the monitor out of curiosity.

"It says here that the previous Student Council President, name redacted for some reason, was running the school very well. In fact he had about 78% preference on his side of the elections. Kumagawa, on the other hand…

Hōka quickly turned to face Satsuki. "… had 0% preference."

Everyone's faces lighted up in clear shock. "What's more is, at the time of the election, this Kumagawa character had absolutely **zero **votes."

"How is that possible!?" Satsuki's face lit up with immense frustration at such an illogical course of events, but she knew better than to take out her frustrations on Hōka.

"I don't know. The only way that would be even kind of possible, is if the other side had zero votes as well. But then, why choose the guy with 0% preference?" In an effort to think up a logical solution to such an irrational explanation, Hōka's mind delved into a complete frenzy. To repair this instance of mental relapse, he turned around and started frittering with his laptop (probably to hack into some government's files (anything to get his mind off of a Student Council President being elected with no votes)).

"For now, let's just focus on getting as much information as we can." Satsuki looked at Hōka who had regained a bit of his sanity. "Inumuta, I want you to bug the Student Council room. See what we can learn from their conversations."

"Yes, Satsuki-sama."

"And Jakuzure, I want you to tail this Suzuki person, see what he knows. I have a feeling he knows a lot more than he's letting on."

"It will be done, Satsuki-sama, but don't expect too much from him."

"I only expect you to get the job done. Dismissed!"

At that dismissal, the Anti-Kumagawa conspirators had decided to immediately head to their classes. Ira's and Hōka's homerooms were located in B-3 and D-4, respectively. By a cruel twist of fate, Nonon and Uzu were both crammed together into B-6. And by a strange twist of fate, Satsuki met Kumagawa (who would soon be her mortal enemy) at their homeroom: A-2.

* * *

Kumagawa was reading manga at his desk when Satsuki entered the classroom. During the transfer student introduction, she feigned ignorance of Kumagawa's person until it was over. Unfortunately, she was too focused on that to do one of her flashy introductions that have become a habit with her transfers. She came up to Kumagawa who didn't seem to notice her. "[Uwah, Satsuki-chan! I didn't think we would see each other this soon.]"

"Forgive me for surprising you, Kumagawa-san. But I do believe that you happen to have the registry of every student's class on hand?" Satsuki replied with a scrutinizing scowl.

"[Hm… Indeed I do...]" Kumagawa scratched his head on Satsuki's correction.

In a move that caught him completely off-guard, Satsuki came up and sat beside Kumagawa. Even so, she ignored him as to not show interest in conversation. Kumagawa took the message and spent class-time reading the rest of his manga. During that same amount of time, Satsuki secretly analyzed every single move Kumagawa made in an attempt to find a weakness, maybe a hint that he was like the 'other person' she knew.

From what she observed, however, his movements, while a bit stiff, were that of a human, and there didn't seem to be any aura of power an individual imbued with life-fibers would normally have. In fact, what she sensed resonating from Kumagawa was **nothing**. And that's what worried her.

By the time class was over, Kumagawa had finished reading. He turned to look at Satsuki who had taken careful, intrinsic notes on the lesson. "[Whoa, you're pretty smart, Satsuki-chan!]" Satsuki didn't reply. Taking the message again, he left the classroom quickly, if not a bit perturbed by the awkward atmosphere.

* * *

**Later, in the 2nd floor hallway:**

"Hey, hey Hōka-kun!" Nonon was yelling in the walkie-talkie. She was dressed in normal high school attire.

"You do realize people use cell phones now a days," Hōka replied.

"Whatever, have you bugged the target's office yet?"

"I'm finished with my part of Operation Recon. How are you holding on your end?"

"I'm still in the hallwa-…, Wait, wait, there he is! Intercepting target."

* * *

"Ah, why do I have to fill out all these forms?" Suzuki complained to himself. "If he just did a bit of the work, it would save us both a lot of time."

"Um, excuse me?" Nonon interrupted his train of thought.

"Whoa!" In one fell swoop, Suzuki had accidentally dropped the large stacks of papers he was carrying.

"Oh, sorry," she said.

Getting ready to yell out all his frustrations, Suzuki came to a halt when he saw that the girl who interrupted him was actually kind of cute. "It's not a broblem, I mean problem!" he blushed. He turned his head down, and knelt to pick up the mess.

"Oh, okay," she said with her sweetest smile. _This is great. I got this wimp right where I want him. Now to press him for some secrets._

"Hey, I recognize you. You work in the Student Council. What's it like?" Nonon knelt down to Suzuki's level in curiosity. He moved back a few paces.

"Oh, I'm just the General Affairs Manager," he answered. "If you really want to know, you should become Vice-President or something. There are a lot of positions open now."

"Why is that?" she asked. _There are only TWO student council members!_

"Well, we used to have all the positions filled, but most of them 'quit' in one way or another," Suzuki answered grinning. "You should head to our office some time. I'm sure Kumagawa-senpai would hire a pretty girl like you."

"Thanks, but no thanks," was Nonon's reply. _What is this idiot thinking?_

The moment he heard her tone shift, Suzuki backed off a little and went back into his controlled, nervous behavior. "Well um…, if you change your mind, make sure to er- visit us!" After Suzuki finished picking up his last stack, he made a beeline for the nearest exit.

* * *

**A story about the past:**

Various guesses were made at what the new Transfer Student would be like. The default question for male students, "Is it going to be a dude or a chick?," filled the noise of class A-2's loud conversations. Suzuki (a short freshman boy with brown greasy hair and a pot belly) was sitting at his desk in the back of the classroom stacking a house of cards. That is until a tiny breeze from an open window blew his house away.

Although he cursed his misfortune, he couldn't help but feel that his luck would change soon; especially considering that out of all of his classmates to be impaled by giant screws, he was the only one still alive.

"[Hi, my name's Kumagawa. I'm a Minus! What your's?!]"

A strange boy wearing a buttoned-up student uniform approached Suzuki who was trying his earnest to not pass out from shock.

"Su-u-Suzu-ki!" he yelped in fear.

"[Well, Suzu-kun. Nice to meet y- Oooh, do you read Shonen Jump?!]"

The Minus casually placed his hand on Suzuki's desk, knocking down whatever cards still stood. Suzuki bent his chair and answered him in an equally casual way.

"I don't know. A little. I like to play cards so…"

"[What kind of cards?]" Kumagawa interrupted.

"Um, Solitaire, and Poker, um, and… Sometimes I like to stack them!"

By the time Suzuki was finished answering, everything that happened (the class being massacred by a single transfer student) had undone itself. He gazed in utter disbelief as the students (who were impaled by screws merely seconds ago) were not only alive, but discussing various topics like what they were going to eat later; just as they were before the Transfer Student came in.

Wondering if it was all just a dream, Suzuki glanced around the classroom, and to his horror, discovered the Transfer Student sitting at a desk, gleefully reading manga. And what's more, no one but himself even seemed to notice. He let out a long sigh.

_It had to be a dream_, he thought to himself as he leered straight at his desk. Right in front of him, appeared the very same cards he stacked (that were blown away by the wind) back on his table, stacked up just like they were. Even the number and suit of cards was the same.

In a fit of bewilderment, Suzuki energetically gazed at the Transfer Student who was just about done reading his manga. The Transfer Student simply looked back and smiled. For whatever reason, Suzuki couldn't help but smile too. For once in his life, Suzuki, who was bullied, who had no friends, who was nothing but a joke, had felt like he had finally found someone who truly understood him.

_Heh heh. Kumagawa, was it. _And that's how the two Minuses first met.

* * *

**Present day:**

Instantly abandoned, she could only ponder the meaning of the words Suzuki had told her: _Had to 'quit'._

She soon called back Hōka. "I'm finished with my part," she said into the walkie-talkie. "I didn't get a report from Lady Satsuki that you completed your mission. What gives?"

After a minute-long silence, a voice came up. "That might be a tad impossible from where I'm sitting."

"Why is that?" she asked.

A familiar voice sounded from Nonon's device. "[Wow! People still use these?!]"

* * *

Hōka was just sitting quietly as his host played around with a chain-puzzle. He was tempted to tell Kumagawa what he had to do to solve it, but by the focused look on his host's face, he decided best not.

Giving up, Kumagawa tossed away the chain-puzzle, too convoluted to be solved by anyone now. He relaxed on his chair and looked at Hōka, and then at Suzuki who was removing the bugs, and afterwards looked back at Hōka again.

Taking this as a signal to speak, Hōka asked, "How did you spot me so easily?"

Kumagawa rubbed his chin. "[I have to admit, it was a bit difficult with that invisibility of yours.]"

"[So I took a random guess at where you might be, and what do you know, I was right on the money!]"

Hōka was terrified by the fact that Kumagawa defined what he experienced as a "random guess".

* * *

After he had finished bugging the room and speaking on the walkie-talkie with Snake, he decided to stay behind within the Student Council room to see if there were any incriminating documents in the drawers. To his dismay, he heard a voice from behind the entrance door. In a quick reflex movement, Hōka activated his Goku uniform and used his camouflage ability to stay invisible along the walls. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough time to put the drawers back in their places, and Kumagawa, who immediately entered the room, started to look around curiously. Surprisingly, Kumagawa's deduction skills were are a lot more refined than he had anticipated from his current data.

Kumagawa saw that the windows were still sealed shut and all the drawers were opened. The only place the perpetrator could have exited was the front door. However, he had a warranting suspicion that the perpetrator hadn't even used the front door. The freshness of the wood, whenever the drawers were first opened, scented through the air, suggesting that the thief had opened them seconds ago. The likely scenario is that the thief, hearing voices from outside, went into panic, and then used some confusing power to make himself invisible. In all cases, the thief was still in the room!

Going by those odds, Kumagawa decided that the best way to flush him/her out was to start throwing large screws all over the place in hopes that the thief would come out and surrender himself. By the end of the eighth screw, Hōka had come out to surrender himself. Kumagawa noticed that he had nearly hit him with the third and sixth screw.

* * *

Hōka looked around the room to see that the screws and the damage they caused had disappeared. Other than that, it was a dreary room that needed a paint job. He stared at Suzuki and then back at Kumagawa. "I believe I hid those bugs pretty well. How is your friend able to find them?" he asked.

"[Bandit's Luck. That's his Minus.]" Kumagawa answered.

"His Minus?" Hōka had seen the friendliness in Kumagawa's behavior and decided to take advantage of it by probing for more information.

"[Right! It's an ability that makes anything, he perceives to be the worst-case scenario, happen! In this case, it's finding all your bugs.]"

"Got the last one," Suzuki shouted from the back.

"[Good work!]" Kumagawa shouted back.

"I see," replied Hōka. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. To hear something so abnormal said and used so casually. He had experienced his share of abnormality, but most of that was from Life-fibers, and they had an extraterrestrial explanation. This, on the other hand, seemed like something you would see out of a manga. He pressed on.

"What is a Minus?" he asked. If he could relay this information to Satsuki, then that would be a big help in the war effort. It was also a bit of curiosity in the matter which led him ask to that question. Whatever a "Minus" is, he wanted to know.

"[Hm, that's a bit hard to say. Minuses are abilities a Minus uses. All Minuses have an ability, conveniently called a Minus, which they each use. Suzuki and his Bandit's Luck, for example. Though, there are some people who can use multiple Pluses and Minuses. Despite having abilities that defy logic, Minuses tend to be the stepping stones for the rest of society.]" Kumagawa leaned in his chair.

"[We're the unloved, unpopular, weak, idiotic scum of this world. Nothing ever goes our way, and we always lose. Our own Minuses hurt us more than the people we use them against.]"

"And you're happy with that?" Hōka had noted Kumagawa's cheerfulness during the rant.

"[Yep!]"

"What is your Minus?" Hōka asked, fixing his glasses. This was an important question. Although he didn't expect Kumagawa to answer directly, it didn't mean he should not have tried.

"[I wonder if I should tell you.]" Kumagawa responded in a similarly serious manner. "[I mean, if you had just asked earlier, without having to resort to these spy tactics, I would have whole-heartedly told you everything! But now, I'm not so sure. I mean, one of your friends even broke Suzu-kun's heart! Poor guy...]"

Suzuki pretended not to hear that last comment.

Noting that this was all the data he would get, Hōka decided to ask Kumagawa what he was going to do about him.

"[I wonder? No one's ever done this kind of thing before. Let me think…]"

As Kumagawa became lost in thought, Hōka stood up and waltzed back a few steps. Not to escape. But to not get in the way of the big guy who had his palm over the distracted Kumagawa's head. Suzuki noticed the large man too but decided not to interfere in Kumagawa's thinking. It took Kumagawa about two seconds to notice.

"[Eh?]"

As Kumagawa left his deep thought, the large man grabbed his head and bashed him against the floor.

"[Now, who might you be?]" asked Kumagawa, who twisted his neck to look at the large man. The gargantuan figure, holding Kumagawa's head in his oversized hand, shouted:

"I AM IRA GAMAGŌRI! You've been a thorn in Lady Satsuki's side!"

Even before Satsuki Kiryūin took over the school, abnormal occurrences were always a normal sight at Honnōji Academy. For instance, whenever the Student Council President was flung through a wall (for the sixtieth time), all the students who witnessed it would immediately disappear. No one wanted to get in the way of Kumagawa's "Lynch Mob of the Week".

"[This is the sixtieth time I've been thrown through a wall since coming here!]" the Minus recounted as he arched his way upwards.

"Was it really necessary to throw him like that?" Hōka asked with a puzzled expression.

Ira glared at Hōka for a few seconds. The slightly intimidated Hōka backed off; his neck collar covering most of his face. "Just saying..."

Ira turned to Kumagawa who he saw, other than a few tatters on his clothes, was completely fine.

"By order of Lady Satsuki," Ira blazed, "You shall receive HARSH DISCIPLINE!" The words "HARSH DISCIPLINE" appeared behind Ira in expressive kanji.

"[Now, now please. There's no need to get so rough. I believe we can get over our differences and...]"

"Silence, worm!" Gamagori shouted. The way he shouted it made it difficult to discern whether he was speaking normally, or if he was actually angry. Gamagori stared down at Kumagawa with a look of immense intimidation. So this was the boy who defiled Lady Satsuki's greeting with his dirty handshake. He had seen many bad guys in the past, but this one by far, was somewhat unique in his own right.

No fear, no falter. The future disciplinary committee will look in the history textbooks and see the absolute model of how one deals with someone as screwed up as this student. "Shall I detain you, or do you wish to be beaten within an inch of your life?" he said with his chin pointing upwards.

"[Detain me? No, I wish to be beaten within an inch of my life. After all, I did something bad, and I should be punished, right?]" Kumagawa answered.

The Minus got ready to throw three of his screws at Ira, when, to his surprise, he discovered both of his arms were ruptured from getting thrown around. Ira grinned at the helpless Kumagawa.

"It seems you can't fight." Gamagori cracked his knuckles and gazed intimidatingly at the boy. Despite his fear-inspiring behavior, in truth, he was the most afraid in this situation. His discipline had taught him to hide his feelings so neither Hoka and that "thing" could see that he felt uneasy each moment he approached Kumagawa. He didn't know how to explain it, but it felt like Kumagawa was looking right through him with those empty eyes of his."Go ahead and make this easy on yourself and surrend-"

"[Um, well, I... uh… Gotta go!]" The injured Minus ran out speedily through the hole in the wall he created.

"W-wait. I'm not done talking with you!" Ira announced as he gave chase.

* * *

_[I have to get away from these crazy people] _he thought to himself. _[If I reach the girls locker room, I could probably hide in there for a few months.]_

_Are you sure you don't just want to spy on naked girls?_

_[Suzuki! Why are you here? And when did you learn telepathy?!]_

_I didn't. I'm actually just a hallucination caused by major blood loss._

Kumagawa looked down to see a blood trail stretching all the way back to the Student Council room.

"[Oh.]"

As he turned left to the next hallway, the injured Minus spotted a male figure of average height with a bamboo sword leaned on his shoulders standing in his way. When Kumagawa stopped at the sight, the man turned around and said:

"I was curious about what you would look like."

"[Are you a member of the group that's been dogging me?]" the injured Student Council President asked with a hint of worry on his face.

Suddenly, they both heard a voice from behind. "UZU", yelled the larger one, "DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!"

The young man shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, but I gotta make sure you don't get past me." The young man prompted his bamboo blade. _If this is someone who could actually spook Lady Satsuki, then it's all right if I go all out. _In a flash, he transformed into a giant, knight-like automaton that nearly covered half the hallway. "Three-Star Ultima Uniform: Blade Regalia!" yelled the man inside. Enthralled by the spectacle, Kumagawa stepped in closer, completely ignoring his own injuries.

"[Whoa! This is just like something out of Shonen-Jump!]" remarked the star-struck Minus.

Uzu responded by beating him mercilessly with the seemingly infinite number of kendo wooden swords he had on his back. Nearly beaten to an inch of his life, Kumagawa laid there for a few seconds. Uzu simply gazed in horror as Kumagawa, his smile as wide and cheerful as ever, tried to get back up despite having both his arms and legs broken and his spine ruptured. In a few minutes, the boy somehow managed to stand up. Even so, his back and legs were bent in a strange way, and Uzu could hear crackling sounds coming from his spine.

"[I think my collar bone snapped off and landed into my lungs. This will cause after effects for the rest of my life!]" the Minus merrily proclaimed.

Uzu nearly vomited at the debacle. "What the hell are you?" he asked desperate to leave the fight at once. If he wanted to watch a horror movie, he would've rented a DVD at the nearest Video Store. He had never seen a more happy grin on anyone whose body was crippled to the point of death.

"Don't get distracted, Sanageyama!" Ira who witnessed the event as well decided to activate his Goku uniform. In a similar flash, Ira transformed into a mummy-like object with whips and shackles constricting his arms and legs. The way he was dressed, it would be difficult to move.

"Three-Star Ultima Uniform: Shackle Regalia!"

Kumagawa crutched up to the stationary man. "[Huh? It doesn't look like you're moving at-]" The large man started to whip himself. Kumagawa stayed to witness the spectacle out of curiosity. In a few minutes, he was hit at top speed by multiple whips, as Ira's Shackle Regalia had reached its climax. Through the whips emerged a muscular figure still wrapped in bandages, but capable of movement. Kumagawa now on the floor, unable to move his broken knees, kneeled as Uzu and Ira approached him to give the finishing blow.

"[Oh, that's so mean, masochist-kun!]" Kumagawa said as he knelt on the floor. "[If this were Shonen Jump, this bullying scene would surely be regulated!]"

"I don't care whether you're weak or strong! All those who stand in the way of Lady Satsuki's ambition shall be obliterated!" proclaimed Ira.

"[Oh, if that's all you wished for.]" A menacing grin took hold of Kumagawa's expression. "[Then you should have asked!]" Before they could set upon him, Kumagawa set a screw on the wall with one of his shoulders and began repeatedly stabbing himself in the head with the sharp end, his smile carrying over even through the gouts of blood. Both Ira and Uzu froze in place at this surprising turn of events. "[What's wrong- isn't this what you wanted-?]"

When the Minus had stopped moving, they knew for a fact that he was dead. The cold pale skin which accompanied his still smiling face reinforced the notion that Kumagawa had killed himself. They were at a complete loss for words.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Uzu announced as he changed back into his normal clothes. He carried himself over to a nearby wall, holding his mouth in his hand, and immediately, last nights dinner poured itself out of his mouth.

"Perhaps we went too far. But I did not expect that at all." Ira did not know what to make of this. At first, he felt regret for misleading Kumagawa with his exaggerated language, but then he felt just as disgusted as Uzu at how easily this boy took his own life.

Soon, Hoka followed by Nonon, showed up to see a melancholy Uzu and Ira standing over the corpse of the late Student Council President. There wasn't any blanket draped over the body as none of them had one on hand.

"What happened?" Hoka asked, worry making itself clear in his tone. He did not want to believe that Ira would go so far as to murder a student. He could see Nonon was just as shocked when she witnessed Kumagawa's bloody corpse laying at their feet.

"What did you do?!" she asked, startled by her first time of seeing an actual dead body.

Both Uzu and Ira could be seen with pale faces as they turned towards the two. They had beaten up many crooks in their lives, but seeing this person do something like that. They were not exactly used to death, but this was something completely messed up in its own right. They explained what Misogi did to himself. How he had smiled throughout it like it was nothing.

"What a shame," Hōka observed. "Shouldn't we bury the body?"

"We'll let the school handle that," Uzu answered. "Me and Gamagori talked, and we agreed to turn ourselves over to the police. But first, I want to report what happened to Lady Satsuki."

With their job finished, they each turned their backs on the corpse to give their report to Lady Satsuki.

"[…]"

* * *

Something was wrong. She ordered Ira Gamagōri and the others to rescue Hōka Inumuta twenty minutes ago. And yet, no one had come back to report anything. The radio held nothing but static. Satsuki feared that Kumagawa may have overpowered them. With no other other choice, she set off to search for her missing comrades. As she exited their base-of-operations (the janitor's closet), she immediately found them.

* * *

Somewhere, in the Japanese country side, there was a beautiful home vista named the Kiryūin manor. In this building, a woman named Ragyō Kiryūin had emerged from the waters of the in-house hot springs. She opened a closet which was home to hundreds of different dresses.

"Which dress shall adorn me today?" she asked in a contemplative manner. After carefully considering her choice of wear, she said, "Yes, this will go good with my mood!" She immediately took it off its hanger and draped it on her incredibly pale skin. As she stepped outside the mansion, her hair began to grow exuberantly bright with a different color scheme on each streak of hair.

Ragyō's personal secretary, Rei Hōōmaru, stood with a helicopter in the background which was ready to take them both off. Rei was a short twenty-something with tan skin and purplish hair tied into multiple dreads. She wore large earrings and a formal business suit. She would always put on shades whenever Ragyō was near.

"You're such a scamp, ma'am," Rei informally told the REVOCS executive. Ragyō smiled.

"How is that 'Isshin Matoi' situation?" inquired Ragyō.

"Isshin Matoi will no longer be a problem," Rei assured. "But the Grand Couturier sustained an injury in her fight with the old scientist. She says it won't heal."

"Oh," Ragyō exclaimed. She never expected words like "injury" and "won't heal", to ever be associated with the Grand Couturier. After the helicopter took off, she decided to change the subject. "How is my daughter doing in her little endeavor. You know, to conquer… What is it? Honnouki? Houtouki?"

"Honnōji Academy, ma'am," Rei corrected her.

"Ah, right."

"Last I heard, she appeared to be having trouble with a certain fellow. I believe his name was Kumagawa Misogi if I'm not mistaken."

Ragyō sighed as she gazed out the window. "No daughter of mine should have trouble disposing of someone whose name I've never even heard of before…"

* * *

**Meanwhile, at Honnōji:**

Satsuki Kiryūin found Nonon, Uzu, Ira, and Hōka. They were each impaled to the walls by giant screws. In the middle of the bloodshed stood Kumagawa with all his wounds healed and not a blood stain on him. He quickly spotted Satsuki and smiled.

"[Now I know what you're thinking! But none of this is my fault!]" he said as he turned. As his body became parallel to Satsuki's, she eyed one of the same blood-soaked screws in his hand. But that wasn't at all that was bloody. The entire half of his body that Satsuki only saw when he turned was drenched in the blood of her friends.

"Kumagawa..." she shuddered, trying to hold her breath.

"[I'm the victim!]" he proclaimed, his smile as wide and cheerful as ever.

At that moment, Satsuki had completely lost control. She lunged at Kumagawa with Bazukan unsheathed. He didn't dodge the attack at all. He just stood where he was and smiled. Even as Satsuki Kiryuin's blade pierced his heart, "[Ooof, Satsuki-chan...]". As he layed there, dead, Satsuki looked at her hands that held the blade she use to end him. It was the first time she ever actually killed someone. When she thought about her mother and about the Grand Couturier, she pondered how it could be so easy for them.

"[That wasn't nice, Satsuki-chan!]"

"Aah!" Satsuki yelled in shock. Just as she had seen before with the 3rd years, Kumagawa had risen up from where he laid dead with not a single scratch on him. Satsuki pointed her blade towards the grinning undead. She saw that both Kumagawa and Bazukan were not covered in blood anymore.

"[This isn't my fault]" Kumagawa said, dusting off his clothes. "[So I'm not sorry.]"

Satsuki had known that it would be useless to attack him. That magical power he used would always revive him. It was not like life-fibers at all. None of this was an illusion. The smell of blood, the feeling of powerlessness, and the overall negativity she felt emanating from the Minus were all too real.

"[Aww, don't be too sad, Satsuki-chan.]" He propped his arms up. He then reached for the screw he dropped when Satsuki killed him. "[If this will make you feel better...]" Satsuki gazed in horror as Kumagawa jammed his screw right into his skull. She could hear the crushing and twitching sounds emanating from his rye. He smiled like it was nothing. Then the screw was gone.

"How...- how did you do that?" She asked, shaking, with her blade still aimed at the Minus (for all the good that would do).

"[Oh, it was nothing]" He smiled. "[Your friends here killed me. So I simply made their effort to kill me into nothing.]"

In a second, he was face to face with the girl. She was so paralyzed with shock and fear, she could barely move much less stand. He continued...

"[Making reality into nothing. That's my [All-Fiction]]."

Satsuki couldn't believe what she was hearing. That's something a God would have. And yet...

"That's impossible!" she blurted out, only realizing her recklessness after the fact. She mentally sighed in relief when she saw Kumagawa walk back a few paces. He was frantically moving back and forth, completely oblivious to the bodies along the wall he impaled. "[Hm, how could I prove to you that I'm not lying...]" He pondered aloud to himself. He placed his fist into his hand. "[Ah ha, I got it.]"

Suddenly, the screws that impaled her friends, the blood draped along the walls, floor, and ceiling, and the overall bloody smell disappeared. Satsuki set her sights away from Kumagawa only to witness her Elite Four, while alive and unharmed, unconscious. She let out a sigh of relief and sheathed her blade. Kumagawa's cheerful expression did not change. She reclaimed her tight posture and glared at him intimidatingly.

"Kumagawa-san," she said to him in a serious tone. "First of all... Thank you!"

"[Huh?]" He replied confusedly.

She continued. "Thank you for sparing my allies. And also, thank you for what you did for me. If I hadn't experienced you first-hand, I would never have been able to fight my mother."

"[Wow, sounds like you have it rough?]" he responded sheepishly.

"I'm glad I got that out of the way." Satsuki walked towards him without a single hint of fear. In a quick knee jerk movement, she unsheathed Bazukan and pointed it at his neck. The Minus placed his arms up and smiled with a hint of worry on his countenance. "Now let's get to the matter at hand. I'm going to take this school from you and become its new president!"

Kumagawa laughed awkwardly. "[Well, you'll probably do just that.]" he put his finger on the tip of the blade. "[I've never stayed at one school for more than a few months.]" Hearing his answer, she unsheathed Bazukan and regained her civilized posture. She had no time to ponder the words that Kumagawa had said. She was more worried about attending to her Elite Four.

As Kumagawa walked away, he turned to Satsuki who was analyzing the bodies of allies and said, "[Besides, you remind of a certain someone...]" He turned the next hallway and was gone.

* * *

"Satsuki-sama, is that you?" Nonon questioned weakly. Satsuki immediately rushed to the injured girl.

"Jakuzure, are you alright?" She was kneeling down to her level. "How do you feel?"

"Like I've been to hell and back?" she answered rubbing her head. "How are the others?"

"I'm okay." It was Uzu. "Engh, I got no screw in me, and yet it still hurts."

"This is a lot closer to a battle than I ever wanted to be," Hoka added, trying to stand up.

"You guys..." Satsuki carried a warm smile at seeing that he Elite Four, no, her friends were alive and fine.

"SATSUKI-SAMA!" Ira yelled, he was already standing. "Please punish me! I have failed you!" He immediately fell down.

"Listen up," Satsuki said as she stood back up, "Anyone who's capable of still standing, carry Gamagori to a nearby hospital."

Uzu shrugged his shoulders. "Guess I'm gonna be the one to do it." He activated his Goku-uniform and became a giant Automaton again. "Come on big guy," he said as he lifted the Gamagori up from the floor. "Ooof, your heavy." He carried the sleeping giant through the hallway and out the entrance. A handful of students gawked at the spectacle for a few minutes but then went back to going to wherever there classes were.

"Are you two okay?" Satsuki asked as she turned to Hoka and Nonon.

"It still hurts like hell," Hoka replied, "But I'll be fine."

"You'd be better if you exercised a bit more," Nonon smirked to him. She was standing perfectly fine.

"Coming from a snake like you, that means a lot," he retorted sarcastically. "How are those 'injuries' holding up."

"Are you implying something?" she asked with a hint of anger.

"Oh certainly not," he replied. "Just a little suspicious that you might've played dead throughout this whole mess."

Satsuki was standing around impatiently. "I need to know all the information you gathered during your time at the Student Council room, Hoka."

"Yes, ma'am!" Hoka interrupted his argument with Nonon and stood to attention. "Where should I begin..."

Hoka began with Minuses. He told her about these amazing humans who wielded surreal and destructive powers. He told her that Kumagawa and his assistant, Suzuki, were both Minuses. And that they named their abilities. Suzuki's ability was Bandit's Luck which allowed him to make the worst situation happen. He didn't know much about Kumagawa's ability. He wagered a guess that it was probably something with illusions. All the while, he noticed Satsuki listening intently to his story without any disbelief on her expression, unlike Nonon. He continued by telling her about how Minuses are the weak failures of society. He specified that that was what Kumagawa told him at least. From his conversation with the man, he didn't pick out anything related to Life-Fibers. He theorized that Kumagawa didn't know about their existence.

Hearing all that information, Satsuki finally sighed. "Is that satisfactory, Lady Satsuki?" Hoka asked, worried that he might have upset her.

"Yes, it's fine," Satsuki answered. "As for his 'Minus' as you call it, I think I might know what it is."

"Really!" Hoka exclaimed in utter surprise. "Please tell me, Lady Satsuki."

She nodded and told both Hoka and Nonon about [All-Fiction]. When she was done, Hoka's mouth opened up in disbelief.

"My God..."

* * *

Somewhere deep in the city of Tokyo stood a huge tower which held a base that covered several square acres of land. This was the headquarters of REVOCS in which Ragyo was the CEO and supreme president. REVOCS was a clothing company that owned a 90% share in the industry. Ragyo was at her desk looking up files when she received a call.

"Rei, is that you?" she asked through the device.

"Yes, ma'am," Rei answered back. "I still don't know why you asked me to come here." She was traveling around in a helicopter which flew over Honnou town and Honnoji academy. She could see various slums and few apartment buildings leading up to the school. The very view provided itself as the definition of a dump.

"Yes, yes," Ragyo responded agreeingly. "It does feel like a waste of time. But I'm growing a little impatient with my daughter." She put her feet on her desk, twiddling around with the phone cord. "She's supposed to be my heir and yet she can't even take over one school. Idiot."

"Ragyo-sama..." Rei could hear the anger in Ragyo's voice.

"I need her to take over the schools so that we can supply the students and faculty with REVOCS clothing. Only then can our plans truly begin."

"I know, Ragyo-sama," Rei responded, while gazing at the slums. "But why this place?"

"Hell if I know," she replied. "I had one of my underlings talk to my daughter recently, and she told him that she's dead set on taking over that specific school. Hmph, girl has spirit. Reminds me of her father..."

"Um... Ragyo-sama," Rei said interrupting her train of thought.

"What is it?"

"We've landed at the school entrance."

* * *

The passing-by students simply gazed in astonishment and confusion as a helicopter had casually landed right at the entrance of Honnoji academy. Lectures were interrupted as students rushed to the windows to see what the commotion was about. Out of the helicopter came a formally dressed woman carrying a brief case.

"I'm at the academy, ma'am," Rei said though her cell phone. At least the air here was cleaner than in the city.

"Good," Ragyo replied. "I want you to meet this boy that's been giving my daughter so much trouble. Apparently he's the Student Council President, so you shouldn't have any trouble buying him off."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Oh, and wait." Ragyo was gazing out the window of her forty-story tower.

"Yes, Ragyo-sama?"

"When you're done, make sure to tell me all about him," Ragyo grinned. "This Kumagawa Misogi has piqued my interest as well as my curiosity. I want to know what he's like."

It was highly irregular for Ragyo to be interested in anything outside of REVOCS and her own family. The last person to fill those requirements was Isshin Matoi, and they both know how that ended. A menacing smile began to carry itself over Rei's normally stonewall expression. "I'll make sure to tell you all about it."

**End of Chapter**


	2. Chapter 2: Evil Woman

_'I'm writing this after I write the chapters, because my imagination tends to fly, and people might get confused if I warn them about something that doesn't actually happen. Right-o, on to business! Kumagawa, would you like to read the wildly unnecessary disclaimer.'_

_"[Oh boy, would I!]"_

_'...'_

_"[...]"_

_'...Well aren't you going to-'_

_"[Kill la Kill and Medaka Box are not at all owned by the Author. They are property of Studio Trigger and Nisio Isin, respectively. Enjoy!]"_

_p.s. For better writing than the slop I offer you, check out: To My Death I Fight by BahamutReishiki and Familiar by Leo Septem._

**Chapter 2: Evil Woman**

There are many ways Gamagori-kun could've pictured his day going. Waking up to see a fat, middle-aged man breathing on top of him was not one of those ways:

"Eeeeeeyaaaah!"

"What, what is it!?" Sanageyama rushed to the sound of screaming. When he slid open the clinic door, he saw the very large Ira Gamagori in a fetal position, literally shaking from fear, and the doctor's head implanted into a wall. He face-palmed at this unfitting scenario.

"What the hell happened?" Uzu said looking accusatively at Gamagori.

"It's not my fault!" Gamagori pointed the blame at the man he just punched into a wall. "THAT PERVERT WAS GOING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME!"

Uzu started laughing uncontrollably. "Pft, that's the doctor I brought you to after you passed out. Remember? Pft ha ha ah ha."

"Hmmm," Ira leered at the doctor who had finally pulled his head out of the cement. He didn't remember anything after that boy he killed got back up and screwed him against the wall.

"He was probably just checking your wounds," Uzu explained.

"Oh, er… sorry about that," Gamagori rubbed his head in embarrassment.

"It's okay." The doctor was remarkably durable. "My name's Bazaro Mankanshoku, and my assistant over there…" _What assistant. _"SHIRO!"

"Coming, sir," Shiro Iori entered through the clinic sliding door. He was a blonde-young man with a large forehead. He always seemed to be wearing a breathing mask. His hair was tied into a ponytail and from a long distance; you would mistake him for a girl.

"This is Shiro, my assistant who should be monitoring the patient's health right now!" Bazaro casted an accusative glance at the lanky high-school student.

"I was," Shiro justified, "But then I had to deal with the crowd outside who were demanding their money back. You know, for all the false treatments you issu-"

"Ha ha, that's enough about that!" Bazaro returned to his cheery state. "What's more important is that everyone was satisfied." He turned around to the two perplexed students. "Anyway, I checked out your body for lacerations and the like."

"Did you find anything, Doctor?" Gamagori asked.

"Nope, nothing," he concluded. "Looks like you had a little fight with President Kumagawa."

Both Uzu and Ira jumped at the saying of that name. "Yes! How did you know?" Uzu asked.

"Oh," Bazaro rubbed his chin and walked across the room back and forth, "That kid's always sending me new patients. Curiously, they never seem to have any injuries, but they act like they've been hit by a truck. Just the other day, a group of thugs came at my clinic and carted their boss onto my desk. They say, "That bastard traumatized our boss. We can't even speak about it without him going into fits of rage," or so that's how it went."

He stopped pacing back and forth and sat in front of Gamagori. "Listen, if you start hearing voices or seeing things, I suggest you talk to a therapist." He stared out the window with a serious gaze. "Just interacting with that kid will give you PTSD."

"Bazaro-san…," muttered Shiro. The doctor turned around and went back into his dopey behavior. "Well, if you're feeling all right…"

"Wait, we wanna ask some more questions," Uzu cut in.

"That's enough of that," Bazaro said with a dopey smile as he and Shiro pushed both Gamagori and Sanageyama out the door.

Just as they were about to close and lock the clinic entrance, Gamagori shoved his hand into the doorway and peered into the small space. "Wait, I still haven't thanked you or even paid you for your service?!"

Bazaro smiled goofily. "You're pleasant smile is all I need." He pressed a red switch and the door closed automatically, barring out both Uzu and Ira. "Well, that got us nowhere," Uzu commented.

Just as they were walking back to Honnoji, they could hear the sound of a helicopter's rotor. "What the hell's going on?" Gamagori ran ahead of him. "Hey hey, Gamagori-kun!"

"What's the big deal?" Uzu yelled as he chased the giant.

"What do you think a helicopter means?!" Gamagori yelled back.

Uzu didn't have the slightest clue, and then it hit him. "But, that's impossible!"

* * *

Students left and right gawked at the formally dressed woman. "Who is she?" some students asked. Rei just continued to move through the busy halls in a dignified manner. In a split-second, she eyed a student carrying large stacks of paper.

"Excuse me!" she said as she approached the student. Nothing changed in the student's melancholy expression. He didn't even seem to jump in surprise at Rei's sudden prodding (as she would've hoped would happen).

"Yes?" he replied stoically.

Rei took off her sun-glasses only now realizing she still had them on. "I'm looking for the Student Council's Office. My name's Rei Hoomura. I'm here on official business."

The student put down his stack and shook hands with the business woman. "Suzuki. Pleasure to meet you…"

There was nothing remotely strange in the boy's behavior or appearance. And yet it felt like he had no life in him. "Do you know where the student council room is?" she put her hands on her hips and looked around casually.

"Sure, follow me!" he answered. He left his stack where it was and prompted the woman to follow him.

* * *

Suzuki stopped at the hallways and pointed at a door to the side. "That's the student council room. He's almost always in there. I don't think he has a dorm or home in this town." He opened the double door entrance and let Rei in. "Kumagawa, you have a visitor!"

In a regular wooden chair sat a young man of average height and build. "After you, Miss," Suzuki kept the door open for Rei like a gentleman. She thanked him professionally.

"Kumagawa Misogi, I presume?" she questioned the boy.

"[…]" the boy put down his manga, evidently oblivious to anyone entering the room until Rei questioned him. He looked at the formally-dressed adult and smiled. "[Yes, that would be me.]"

"May I take a seat, Kumagawa-san."

Kumagawa observed the woman for a few seconds. Tears instantly loomed out of his eyes. She jumped a little from the display.

"[Please forgive me for crying all of a sudden]" he said rubbing his eyes. "[It's just that I haven't had the chance to talk with someone so professional in a while.]"

Rei let out an awkward laugh. "…I see."

Without any order, Suzuki took a chair from the side and put it adjacent to Kumagawa's. "[Thank you, Suzu-kun.]" Suzuki gave up a thumbs-up sign and then left the room.

She sat down and gazed at the boy. _So this is the man who's been giving Lady Satsuki so much trouble…_

"Hhm hm," she sounded as she cleared her throat. "Let's get down to business. I represent the Kyruin Conglomerate as well as REVOCS. I'm sure you know Lady Satsuki."

He rubbed his chin. "[Nope, never heard of her!]"

"I see." She pondered whether her information was off. "Then you and I can talk about the resignation of your status as Student Council President without any issues."

"[Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!]" He motioned his hands to slow down the conversation. "[I didn't say anything about not knowing her!]"

She was confused at Kumagawa's response. _Did he know her or not?_

"[She and I know each other really well," he explained. "[And we're totally besties!]"

If she was drinking anything, she would've immediately spitted it out at that last sentence.

"Wait! Would you run that by me again?" she asked, perplexed by the change from one extreme to another.

"[Oh, yes. Our friendship goes deep.]" he smiled lewdly. "[Just the other day, we planned on going sky diving!]"

"WHAT!" she blurted out in disbelief. If anything like that were to seriously cross the young lady's mind, she would surely know. Even so, the young lady didn't peg her as someone so reckless.

"[Ha ha]" Kumagawa was laughing hysterically at Rei's surprise. "[For a business woman, you sure are gullible.]"

"Huh?"

"[I was just kidding…]" he said in between wiping his tears. "[Satsuki-chan and I had a few run-ins. Why? Is she in trouble?]"

Rei couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Er… so you do know Lady Satsuki?"

"[Yeah, yeah didn't I tell you?]"

She was starting to get annoyed at Kumagawa immature antics. "No, Lady Satsuki is not in trouble. Whether you are or not depends on your perspective."

"[Oh, that's good. I wouldn't want one of my precious students to be punished because of me.]" A clearly fake tear carried itself down his face. "[Now what's this about my resignation?]" he inquired gleefully.

"As you surely do not know, REVOCS has an interest in obtaining schools from all over the region. We wish to distribute REVOCS-made clothing across the country for profit. We feel it imperative to hit the teenager demographic in all places." Kumagawa listened intently to Rei's droll and boring speech.

"In the end, Lady Satsuki has chosen this school as the hub for which we may carry on our projects. But to do this, she must first become President of Student Council; a position in which you currently occupy."

"[So what you're telling me is…]" he rubbed his chin and stood up. "[I got to hit the road so you can sell clothes to people.]"

She was surprised at Kumagawa's blunt summary of her speech. "Yes! That's exactly it," she said optimistically.

"[Meh, I don't wanna!]"

She had anticipated this to be his answer. "I knew you would say that so…"

She opened her briefcase. A yellow shine, that stunned the Minus, emanated from the satchel.

"These golden bricks are worth 1,000,000,000 yen each." She placed the briefcase on the table and gazed into his eyes. "Resign now, and this will all be yours." She did it. No one, not even the most charitable of souls could resist such wealth. This wasn't her first time paying off public officials. It just goes to show how dull and predictable humans can b-

"[Meh, I don't wanna.]"

"What," Rei said in disbelief.

"[You can keep your gold to yourself. I'm satisfied with life as it is now.]"

"But this is a total of 40 trillion yen we're giving you!" she exclaimed. "Do you not like money?"

"[Oh, I like money.]" The Minus placed his hand on his desk. "[I like it when it's earned.]" He sat back into his chair and prompted Rei to leave. "[You can go now…]"

"This is surely a mistake for you, Kumagawa-san," she said as she closed and picked up the briefcase. "We will not simply stop because you didn't want to play along. We gave you a chance, but now it looks like we'll have to do things the hard way."

"[Whatever, it's not like you had anything to offer me in the first place…]"

"Heh, nice try, Kumagawa-san," she opened the briefcase to show him all the wealth he had missed out on. "But it would take a lot more than that to fool m-…"

"[…]"

All the gold was gone. Not just gone, completely vanished! Not a single bit of residue in the brief case.

"Huh?" Rei sounded in surprise. "This cannot be!" She shook the satchel like the gold was hiding somewhere.

"[Wow! That's some bad luck you got there.]" Kumagawa was right behind her.

"Eeeyah," she yelled startled. "What did you do?!" she asked him with an irritated voice.

"[Hey.]" Kumagawa was face-to-face with her. She was trying to hold herself back from screaming. Reality seemed to distort around the boy's figure. With his perpetual smile frozen on his face, he softly told her, "[Go back to your master and tell him or her about what you witnessed here today.]"

In a split-second, everything was back to normal. Kumagawa was in his desk reading manga again, and Suzuki was sitting on a cardboard box shuffling cards. Rei had thought she lost her mind. She reached into her pocket to call in the Swat team. The cellphone was broken. _Why is the cellphone broken? This is absolutely the worst thing that can happen right now!_ She saw Suzuki snickering.

Largely disturbed from her experience in the Student Council room, she left in a rush, not even bothering to say good-bye. She put her shades back on, so passing by students wouldn't see the terrified look in her eyes. Even so, many passing-by students seemed to guess by her stiff movements that she had just visited the Student Council office. As she ran through the halls, she bumped into a certain someone…

* * *

"It's just as I thought…" Ira said. "The Kiryuan conglomerate's here." In front of Gamagori, there was a helicopter on stand-by at the entrance of Honnoji. The pilot was smoking a cigarette outside the cockpit.

"Geez, one day, and they're already getting in our business. School hasn't even ended yet." Uzu was rubbing his hair in disbelief.

As they stood there, a strong, feminine voice sounded from behind. "This is just what the thing I would expect Ragyo to do." It was Satsuki. She was holding Rei from the collar.

"Lady Satsuki!" Uzu and Ira sounded in surprise.

"Lady Satsuki, I do implore that you let go of me," Rei ordered dejectedly.

Satsuki did what she said and let go of her suit collar. Rei fumbled on to the ground and then stood back up in a dignified and professional manner as she dusted off her clothes. "That's better."

"Mind telling me why you were skulking around my school?" Satsuki asked in a serious stone.

She answered skilfully. "I was simply going by Ragyo-sama's orders. Your mother is worried about you and simply wanted to check on your 'progress.'" She stuck a glance at Satsuki who was not at the least bit intimidated.

"Please, do not insult my intelligence. I do believe you've already went to the student council room."

Rei shuddered at the memory of _that _place. "What if I did," she answered with a stubborn look on her face. "If you fail in your mission, REVOCS will have to employ army tactics in order to obtain the school. No matter how many innocents may fall in the process."

"I do not believe something as worldly as a private army would be enough to defeat Kumagawa," Satsuki countered back.

"I don't believe you." Rei was passing an angry glare at the stoic Satsuki. "And if that doesn't work, we could always send _her_."

Satsuki's face lightened up at the mere mention of _her_. Rei smiled, satisfied from Satsuki's shocked expression.

Suddenly, the helicopter rotor started up. "Miss Rei," called out the pilot. "You do remember you have a meeting with the Prime Minister of Ukraine at three?"

"Will be with you in a minute," she said turning to the pilot.

She turned to Satsuki and let out a long sigh. "Sorry, my lady, but it looks like we'll have to continue this discussion some other time."

"Rei," she said.

"Yes?" Rei responded.

Satsuki gripped Bazukan. "Don't let me ever see you in my school again!"

Rei paused for a moment, surprised at Satsuki's sudden outburst. "Well, I can promise you that. For the other, however…"

She soon left, leaving Satsuki and the others alone at the entrance. The helicopter swooned off, nearly hitting the ridiculously tall wall surrounding the academy.

"Lady Satsuki!" Hoka and Nonon yelled running toward her.

"Where were you guys?" Uzu asked.

"We were following Satsuki when, out of nowhere, a bunch of thugs attacked us," Nonon answered.

"Yeah, we took them out easily, but one of them broke my laptop," Hoka explained, while skillfully holding the tears from welling up in his eyes.

"Tch," Satsuki sounded with an irritated expression. "Probably Kumagawa's thugs…"

"They didn't appear to make mention of anyone hiring them during my 'interrogation' so…" Hoka recounted with a sadistic grin being hidden beneath his collar.

"**Attention, attention," **a middle-aged man's voice boomed from the announcement phone.** "This concludes today's daily lectures. Students are advised to walk home in groups with their valuables carefully hidden as there have been reports of rampant attacks along the halls and city districts.**

"Huh, I guess they were just some random thugs," Nonon commented to the displeased Hoka and Satsuki.

"**And now a word from our President…"**

"**[Hmn Hmh]"** a student's voice sounded from the microphone.** "[Hello, this is your Student Council President speaking. I'm so glad for anyone who's a sucker enough to stay here and listen to my boring voice for 5 minutes! As I'll have you know, there have been certain attempts on my life, thousands of people asking for my resignation and immediate suspension, and literal lynch mobs looking to kill me, ever since I came here!]"**

"**[Even so, your President promises to carry on his duty as a proud and dignified individual in this honorary position. And this gets us to our current topic; bullying!]"**

"**[Just today, I was attacked by not one, not two, but FOUR bullies. And transfer students, no less!]"**

"**[I have no respect for bullying whatsoever! If you or a loved one or some random stranger you met at the supermarket admits to or looks like they've been bullied in any way, send them to me. And I'll do what any sensible adult does in that situation and make the bully's life a LIVING HELL!]"**

"**[Ha ha that was a joke. Kidding! But seriously, lay off. These poor saps already have to deal with me. Don't try to make their lives any more miserable… Unless, I order it. Ha ha that was another joke! Kidding, kidding. Back to you announcer guy!]"**

"**R-right… Well, that concludes today's announcements. Make sure to walk in groups, and if you wish to see the current news as well as job descriptions, subscribe to Honnou news edition this week and get a 40% discount the first month. **The announcement ended. It was evening by then.

"Time sure flys," Uzu commented.

**Earlier, in the Student Council Room:**

"Are you sure it was okay to let her go?" he asked.

"[Yeah, yeah Suzu-kun. She won't be a problem.]"

"Well I think she will… Want me to make that helicopter crash."

"[Suzu-kun!]" Kumagawa stopped reading and burst out of his chair. "[You can't be seriously thinking about taking another person's life!]"

"Kumagawa-san…"

"[One's life is a precious unique snowflake.]" He started pacing around the room dramatically as he usually does with his rants. "[To take it is to commit an abominable sin that immediately casts you as a traitor to all humankind!]"

"[I mean I may not know morals or mercy or compassion or any of that stuff, but I certainly know what's proper behavior and what isn't!]"

"[Don't ever talk about someone's life like that again!]"

"Kumagawa-san…" Suzuki's eyes gleamed with admiration. "Whatever, there are some thugs going around breaking people's shit in the lower halls…"

Kumagawa stopped doing dramatic poses and turned to Suzuki with a broken smile across his face. "[Oh, then I guess we'd better go kill them!]" he announced happily.

"Right-o, Boss."

* * *

Dusk had hit Honnoji academy fast. The forlorn group of misfits (now contemplating changing their names after hearing the PA announcement) strode through the slums towards their dorms. "*yawn* I can't believe it's already gotten this la-"

"How can you be so damn calm!?" Nonon stormed at the half sleepy Uzu. "We just got slandered by that ass of a President!"

"Relax," Uzu prompted his arms reassuringly. "It's not like he said our names."

"It doesn't really matter," Satsuki beamed at the two. "That man can play his games all he wants, but we'll be the ones on top."

The four arrived at where their dorm building was located; A large glass penthouse, complete with a swimming pool, basketball and tennis court, music room, arcade and workout gym. "This is the place," Satsuki said casually, as she needlessly directed her hand to the entrance like a servant. Noticing her humble behavior, she quickly regained her dominant posture and went ahead of the group.

"Whoaaaah," Uzu and Nonon simultaneously sounded at the building's exterior and doubly at its interior.

"I do believe this is my stop," Hoka said as he pointed at the defunct and dark corner that was the electronics room. Nonon sighed and face-palmed at his lack of leisurely enjoyment. "I'll be compiling various nodes that may be a security risk."

"Go ahead," Satsuki replied stoically. Hoka crawled into the space like a spider. She prompted the rest to follow her.

As they walked through the needlessly large hallway, Nonon had noticed the music room, empty and filled with various instruments, ranging from saxophones to electric guitars. Satsuki turned around to see that Nonon had disappeared. "Where's Nonon?" she asked Uzu.

"She left the moment she saw the music room," he replied. Guitar strumming followed with various flute noises could be heard from downstairs. Satsuki gave a moderate smile. "Very well, be sure to wake her up tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied hoarsely. She prompted the group to move on. So far, the only one who had kept silent throughout the whole trip was Gamagori.

"Problem, Gamagori?" Satsuki asked of the giant as they walked. He looked troubled, as if he was contemplating something. "It's nothing," he said softly.

Satsuki and Uzu had noted that this was the very first time Ira had ever spoken softly under any context. Worry covered their faces for a few seconds.

"No, really," Gamagori quickly said, with his hand nervously rubbing the back of his head. "I'm just amazed by the extent to which Satsuki-sama would provide for her humble servants!" He knelt down.

"You don't have to pretend, man," Uzu said as he patted Gamagori on the back. "I feel just as pissed as you." He glared angrily at an empty space for a few seconds, imagining that it embodied the irritating visage of Kumagawa.

After a while of the tour, dusk had hit the Honnoji skyline. Nonon and Hoka were sound asleep at where they had previously left the group.

Uzu was at the gym, practicing his sword strikes for the next time they would have to fight _him _or anyone else.

Gamagori sat in his room. He stared into the mirror as if he was trying to scare his own reflection into submission. _Next time… _he thought to himself.

Satsuki was in her room as well. It was a room with a 60 inch flat screen TV, double sided doors and windows, a sign on top of the doors saying **"Room of the queen," **a ping pong table,and a large single bed complete with various desks to hold remotes and electronics. Other than the complete essence of subjugation the room breathed out, it was a fairly normal living space for Satsuki Kiyruin.

It was at this time, that she ignored all the various instruments of leisure at her disposal and sat on her bed meditatively…

* * *

**The past:**

Satsuki Kiryuan, a girl of 14 years of age, stood at her father's grave. She wore a standard middle school uniform with a skirt that draped down to her knees.

_Father _she thought to herself. _How could she do this to you?_

"Uhm, excuse me, miss."

Satsuki turned her head, expertly hiding her surprise through a frowning façade. An old man with white hair arranged in a twirl and a traditional Japanese dress approached her from behind. "Is this the grave of Soichoro Kiyruin?"

"Yes," Satsuki answered bluntly.

"Oh, good, good," the man flashed her a friendly smile, "You wouldn't happen to be his daughter?"

"Yes, I indeed am," she glared suspiciously at the tall figure.

"Oh, please don't look at me like that. My name is Hakama Shiranui. I'm the chairman of Hakoniwa Academy." The man walked past her to kneel down and pay his respects at Soichoro's grave. "Soichoro-san was a friend and colleague of mine."

"…I see." Satsuki relaxed her posture.

"Oh, the things me and your father would get too." The old man got up. "By the way, have you thought of which high school you would go to next year?"

"I hadn't thought about it," she answered.

"Well, my student count has already exceeded its maximum for this semester, so, unfortunately, not even someone of your social stature would be able to attend. But, have you tried Honnoji academy?"

"Honnoji Academy?" she phrased inquisitively. She was bewildered by the fact that she had never heard of this school.

"Yes. It's a school known for its rigorous entry procedures, but its graduation rate is well worth the effort."

Satsuki looked at the man with the same suspicion she had shown him previously. He noticed this and quickly took two steps back, assuring her that he didn't mean to make her sign anything.

"I honestly don't mean any insult by my suggestion," he said while smiling stiffly. "I just wanted to help out the daughter of an old friend."

He took a pause and placed his hand on his chin while looking down. He raised his head to her. "Besides, Soichoro-san used to work there as a professor."

Her face visibly lightened up at the mentioning of her father's name. He continued.

"Yes, indeed, I do believe he was the science teacher for fifteen years, until he retired and moved onto greener pastures."

_Father _Satsuki thought as her expression became uncontrollably ecstatic. Noticing the old man's gaze, she regained her serious composure.

"I'll think about it," she finally said. For a split-second, she could see Hakama's tender blue eyes turn to jet-black along with the grin that adorned his face. Noticing that this would raise suspicion, he instantly regained his cheerful persona.

"Thank you, and my respects." He bowed to the grave. "Soichoro was a great man as well as a great friend."

* * *

**In the present, somewhere on the other side of town:**

Many had guessed at where Kumagawa Misogi had lived. Some say that he did all of his living at the Student Council Room. This was proven false, when a group of nightly school infiltrators discovered the room to be empty. Another theory, was that he would invade other people's homes and hang out there, but that would be an abuse of power under the fifth clause of the Student Body President handbook. Even so, many, especially those in the slums, still kept up the practice of locking their doors in case they get a visit from the boy. Some even thought that he didn't exist at all, and was just a figment of everyone's imagination. That would explain his lack of living quarters. All three theories were plausible at this point. The truth, however, was less interesting than anyone could imagine.

Kumagawa had rented an apartment space at an average motel, between the slums and the high roller suites. Everything about it was normal. The building, while dirty sometimes, was maintained by the landlord with almost frivolous devotion. No one could guess that the most powerful man in Honnoji could live in such a relatively poor section of the town.

Kumagawa stretched his arms and sighed at a long day of not doing work as he entered through the door to his living quarters. The interior was equally as average. He quickly sat beside his floor table and flipped on the TV. "[Let's see what's on TV…]" he said to himself sleepily.

Channel 4: A show host appeared. "Welcome, ladies and gentleman. To this week's, 'Are you smarter than an alligator!' Today, we have two new contestants gearing up to face Toby the alligator in a math contest. Would you please introduce yourself, miss?" He prompted the microphone to an average looking woman.

"Oh, well I-"

Channel 5: Country fiddle played. "Today, Uncle Dee's gonna skin him a wild goose. YEE HA-"

Channel 25: "In today's news," a female reporter segued, "scientists and politicians alike are baffled by Life-Fibers. A phenomenal ingredient in REVOCS clothing that gives people quote-on-quote superpowers. In a few minutes, we'll be talking with the Senior Executive of REVOCS Ragyo Kiyruin in a GNN exclusive interview. Stay tuned."

Commercial: The commercial starts with slow moving dresses ranging from hot pink to dark blue. Suddenly, slow moving beats sound and a woman's voice could be heard seductively saying French words that Kumagawa did not understand. At the end, the words "La vie est drôle" hypnotically appear on the screen with the word REVOCS appearing at the bottom.

Channel 41: *static*

"[There's never anything good on TV]" Kumagawa observed before resting his head on the table.

"I totally agree!" a girlish voice exclaimed.

Kumagawa took his face up from the table (on which he was drooling). "[Who're you?]" the Minus inquired to the source of the voice drowsily, whilst rubbing his eyes to get the sleepy out.

Sitting opposite to him was a blond girl in a pink Lolita-style dress accompanied with pink boots. She had dark blue eyes, with one of them being covered up by a strangely shaped eye-patch. Her hair was arranged into a pair of ridiculously large drill tails and a large pink bow to keep it in place. Lying at the side of the room was a pink parasol that had obviously belonged to her.

"I'm someone who has taken an interest in you, mon ami!" she replied with a cheerful smile.

"[I see…]" After rubbing the last of the sleepy off his face, he answered in an even more sleepy fashion, with a drowsy smile adorning his lips. "[So how'd you get in here?]" he asked while yawning.

"I can go wherever I want, and no one can stop me!" the girl replied.

The Minus collected his thoughts for a moment, making sure to let the girl know he was in deep thought at that statement she had just said by putting his hand on his chin. "[Hmmm…]"

"[Ah! That makes perfect sense!]" he immediately and inappropriately yelled out. "[Please forgive me for not noticing something so obvious earlier on!]" He put his elbows on the table and glared playfully at his new houseguest. The girl couldn't help but giggle at Kumagawa's boisterous antics.

"Ha ha," she chuckled. "Gosh, you're pretty funny, Kumagawa-kun." Immediately, a screw bolted out of the boy and flew at the girl. "[Please don't laugh at people's jokes]" he told the blond-haired girl, with his eyes showing not a single hint of sanity.

Instead of being pinned to the wall in the gruesome manner he had intended, the pink-dressed girl simply deflected the screw easily with her parasol that was at the far left of the room not a few seconds ago. "[That's just about the worst thing you can do.]" he completed before sitting back down. The screw disappeared seconds later.

The girl smiled as she lowered her parasol. She giggled incessantly. "My, my. What has Satsuki-chan gotten herself into this time?"

"[Beats me?]" the Minus answered, raising his eyebrow confusedly. "[Have you thought of asking her?]"

The girl was about to laugh again, but she kept her calm. After all, she couldn't spend all day dodging screws that seemingly came out of nowhere.

"That's a great idea!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "Wonder why I haven't thought of it." The girl twiddled her fingers as she paced around the room.

Kumagawa, with the same perplexed smile he had shown to anything that could be strange enough even for him, watched the girl glide freely around his living quarters.

"You're so interesting Kumagawa-kun!" the girl chirped happily. She was playing around with a rubix cube that seemed impossible to solve. "I look forward to completely destroying you later on." In a few seconds, the rubix cube was solved.

Kumagawa looked at both the girl and the toy with concern.

"Well," the girl outstretched her arms before grabbing her parasol and opening the window sill. "I don't want to keep you from whatever you're doing. Feel free to tell Satsuki-chan about what you saw here today. Ta-ta!" The strong wind grabbed the parasol, causing the girl to fly out like a piece of paper.

The boy simply watched as she floated away fading into the dark night sky. "[How strange…]" he observed.

* * *

**The next day:**

Satsuki and co. were ready for a prosperous day at school after a good night's rest. Their optimism was quickly ruined the moment they saw Kumagawa's visage appearing out the entrance. "[Hello! What a wonderful day to be alive!]" the boy greeted the five cheerfully.

"Kumagawa," Uzu scowled. Everyone in the group but Satsuki got into their battle poses.

"[Now, now]" the Minus prompted his arms up. "[You wouldn't want to start a fight with all these people around. Someone could get hurt!]"

Students were walking normally past the group to their classes. There would certainly be casualties if such a fight were to occur.

Satsuki raised her arm sideways, signaling the rest of the group to remain composed. They reluctantly obliged, but still stared daggers at the reclusive boy. _What could Kumagawa want with me? _Satsuki thought to herself, before turning her head to face the boy.

"[You're probably thinking, what could this dashing and handsome prince want with little old me, am I right?]" Kumagawa started off.

"Not something along those lines," Satsuki answered with her calm façade disguising her annoyance, "But yes. What is it you want with me?"

"[Come to my office after class. It's in the 2nd floor hallway. Bring your friends. It's sure to be a party. I want to discuss out current relationship…]" The contemplative grin, Kumagawa was giving, troubled Satsuki.

"And may I ask what that might entail?" she said, looking down her nose at the grinning boy.

"[Nope!]" he bluntly replied, before turning around and disappearing into the crowd.

Satsuki sensed something more troubling than usual from the boy's movement.

"Satsuki-sama," Nonon reprieved the woman. "You're not seriously gonna do what that creep says?"

"Whether I do or don't do what Kumagawa Misogi says, I'm not going to get any further in attaining my goals if I don't assert myself," she said with an expressionless frown. "Meet me outside the Student Council Office after classes are finished."

* * *

**Meanwhile:**

Carrying her signature parasol, the pink-dressed girl skipped through the slums of Honnoji while humming a familiar tune. Most of the people there were either too busy or too insane to actually pay attention to such an outlandish sight.

"I wonder what going to happen today?" she singed.

When Rei Hoomaru had come back from her business trip, the girl was ready to listen to yet another long and boring speech that the woman would prepare for her, in the event that she "accidently" killed another intern or something. However, instead of instantly nagging at her, Rei simply gave her a cold stare and moved along. It was actually kind of scary:

"I am sorry Miss Harime for my abrupt behavior," Rei bowed apologetically. "Is Ragyo-sama in her office at the moment?"

"I wouldn't know about that?" the girl cryptically replied, obviously trying to make small talk.

Rather than immediately get annoyed, Rei simply nodded her head in understanding. "I see…" She was carrying a suitcase that had looked like it held something really valuable. Being ever curious, the pink-dressed girl grabbed the suitcase out of Rei's hands and opened it up to see what was inside. "Please don't that," Rei had said rather weakly. The suitcase was empty.

"Rei, what's this?" the girl whose name for now was Harime asked, puzzled by the emptiness of the satchel.

Rei looked back and grabbed the suitcase out of the girl's hands, closing it shut. "Please don't tell, Ragyo-sama," she pleaded. "I don't think she'll believe that the gold had simply just vanished."

"What won't I believe?" a voice sounded from behind.

"Ragyo-sama!" both the girl and Rei sounded in surprise.

"Have you done what I asked with Kumagawa Misogi?" Ragyo asked without waiting for an answer to her first question.

Both Ragyo Kiyruin and the girl known as Harime saw Rei physically jump at the mentioning of that name. "I don't mean any offense ma'am," Rei stuttered between words. "But I would rather suffer a concussion if it's enough to wipe my memory of 'that'."

"Interesting," Ragyo responded enthusiastically. "Interesting, indeed!"

"Uhm, excuse me." The girl known as Harime had raised her hand. "But what are you two talking about?"

"Nui, my girl!" Ragyo beamed. "Do I have a job for you!"

"Yes, Ragyo-sama," the girl, whose name had completed to form Nui Harime, replied happily. She was no longer concerned with finding out about Rei's immediate psychological instabilities. When Lady Ragyo had a job for her, all interest in anything else simply faded into non-existence.

"You will go to Honnoji academy and tail its Student Council President, Kumagawa Misogi." Ragyo handed her a picture. This is all we have of the boy at the moment. Rather than question how one of the most powerful corporations in the world could get only a single picture of an otherwise regular-looking boy, Nui agreed devotedly and flew off to where the wind current carried its way to Honnou town.

And that's how she ended up in this broken place they call a city. "Watch out!" A girl flew out of nowhere at Nui while she daydreamed. Using her superhuman senses, she easily dodged the flying projectile.

The girl that nearly hit her landed in a trash can. "You should watch where you're going," the blonde girl suggested. The person that flew at her immediately recuperated.

"You, you're strong! Can you help me out?" she quickly said, without taking a moment to take the banana peel off of her head. Before Nui could answer, a group of thugs gathered behind the two.

"He, he." It was the same group of thugs that Kumagawa had taken down (in the first chapter). "Now are you going to drop the goods or do me and my boys have to get rough with you." It was the same "nameless third year-chan" whose mind was destroyed by Kumagawa. He was still large, and possessed a shiny golden bat in contrast to a titanium one. The most notable change was that all his piercings seemed to have been painfully removed, and were replaced by bandages all over his body.

"I already told you, we don't have any more pain-killers. We ran out of it when your gang raided our clinic yesterday." The banana-peel headed girl asserted herself to the group with a confident pose.

"BULLSHIT!" the bandaged, large third year growled.

The banana head quickly dove back behind Nui who couldn't help but smirk at the whole situation. "And what are you smiling about?" the large third-year aggressively called out to Nui.

"No, it's nothing," she said. "I'm just impressed by the magnitude of useless B.S. you nameless side characters would go to for attention in this pretty lame-ass story."

"What was that?" the large third year snarled as he looked upon the blond-haired girl.

"Hey, boss. I bet we can have fun with this one," one of his minions said. The rest of the group grinned lecherously. "Ain't every day, you see some pretty pink blond bitch stroll on by." He leaned his face to the girl who kept on smiling. "How about a kiss?"

"How about 'no'?" Out of nowhere, a giant purple scissor-blade bonked the minion on the head, knocking him out. The rest of the group jumped back in alarm.

The other girl, finally sensing the banana on her head, took it off. She was a short high-schooler with brown-hair styled in a bowl cut. She cheered Nui on from behind the trash can. "Yeah, you go and bonk him on the head!"

"You're not helping?" Nui replied gleefully with a hint of annoyance on her face. "Actually, when I think about it, I'm not helping the situation either."

The third-year gang growled angrily at being made fun of by the two. "Hey, you bitch," the large third-year asserted with his tiny golden bat slumped along his lean shoulders. The whole gang looked at Nui intimidatingly.

"And when I think about it." She reared her blade up menacingly. "You guys aren't helping the situation at all."

* * *

**Meanwhile:**

Kumagawa tried everything in his power to stay awake while listening to Satsuki's long and boring speech about nothing in particular.

"… and for that reason, I show here only as a means of curiosity, and not out of desperation."

"[*yawn* Are you done?]"

"And further more!"

"[Oh, here we go…]"

"Yes, actually. I am done." The sternly faced girl slowly took a seat in the chair opposite Kumagawa's desk. "You may go on…"

"[Oh, really!?]" Kumagawa expressed in disbelief. Satsuki nodded.

"[Okay!]" Kumagawa reached into something in his desk. It was his cellphone. "[Okay, let's be friends!]" he said as showed Satsuki his number.

"What?" Satsuki said baffled by the sudden turn of events. "Is this another one of your games, because even if it is not, there is no way I would ever be interested in being affiliated to you in anyway," she frowned.

**Right outside the Student Council Room:**

"What do you think they're talking about in there?" Nonon whispered to the others.

"Don't know, don't care." Uzu was extremely pissed, a behavior unfitting of his character. Gamagori stayed silent, a behavior also unfitting of his character. Hoka was still in class.

**Back in the Student Council room:**

"[Perhaps, I phrased it wrong.]" He shrugged his shoulders and leaned back in his chair. "[What I mean is that I want you to join my Student Council.]"

"What?" she sounded in the same tone of disbelief as with the last proposal. Kumagawa sighed. "We were just enemies not a few minutes ago, and now you want to make peace?"

"[Hey, my motto is that more friends are better than more enemies. Okay, that isn't really my motto. But the point is, with your strength, grace, charisma, tactical skills, knowledge and my everything else, we would make an unstoppable team. You can even invite your friends over. I don't care about numbers, I'm all about quality.]" When Kumagawa finished his rant, Satsuki got up from the chair and was about ready to leave.

"[Wait!]" he shouted. "[To be honest, life hasn't been really comfortable recently, and it's all your fault!]"

"How so?" she turned.

"[You know that lady who visited my office recently. She worked for some company and said that it wanted you in charge instead of me. When I refused, I started receiving death threats, assassination attempts, you know, the usual.]" At this point, Satsuki was no longer surprised by the immense casualty Kumagawa treated his own mortality with.

"[I even got a visit from a strange girl…]"

Satsuki's blood froze in her veins. "What strange girl?!"

"[Oh, that doesn't matter!]" Kumagawa chirped in a manner similar to that _strange girl_. "[The point is that I need you.]" Kumagawa was face-to-face with the stoic girl. She pushed him back calmly with a sheathed Bazukan.

"[It's good that I have your attention, Satsuki-chan]" Kumagawa smiled.

"Let's make this clear. I still have no intention of allying myself with you. Instead, we'll make a TEMPORARY," Satsuki made sure to emphasize the word "temporary", "truce until I can get this matter settled with my mother."

"[Oh, so your mom is some evil corporate bigwig bent on world domination.]"

Satsuki nearly fell apart at that sentence. She was astounded at how Kumagawa could describe her mother so accurately with such few details.

"[Ha, ha I'm kidding, kidding. There's no way such an obvious Shounen villain exists in the 'real' world.]" Kumagawa laughed at the notion. Satsuki face-palmed and sighed.

_Whatever _she thought. As she left the room, Gamagori, Uzu, and Nonon soon followed.

* * *

**Somewhere else:**

"I-I'm sorry!" the large third year whimpered as he fell to the ground. All of his goons were either inserted into walls face first, thrown into garbage cans, or lying on the floor unconscious. Nui stared him down with a broken smile and had her blade positioned on top of him to deliver the killing blow. "P-please forgive me!" He peed himself. The brown-haired high school girl watched the scene with utter suspense from behind the trash bin, now filled with several goons.

"Sorry, nameless 3rd year-chan. It's your loss." As she brought the blade down, a memory had struck her. _Do not kill…_

**Earlier (after Nui had broken into Kumagawa's room), in Ragyo Kiyruin's office:**

Ragyo was delivering her ultimatum to Nui about how she had wanted her to go about on her 2nd visit to Honnoji. Rei stood on the side, awaiting her punishment for losing 40 trillion in gold. Throughout the lecture, one word had stuck out to Nui.

"Wait, what was that one thing you just said?"

"Non-lethal," Ragyo repeated.

"What is that?" she cut in, smiling.

"You don't know what Non-lethal means?"

"Is it a type of bread?" she asked confusedly.

Ragyo had realized she had never sent Nui out to neutralize someone without killing them. She sighed, knowing that she was too busy to explain to the Grand Couturier what "Non-lethal" meant.

"Rei," she called out.

"Yes, ma'am." The woman felt a little dread at having to begin the torture so soon, but then internally sighed in relief when it became clear that Ragyo had a job for her.

"I want you to teach Nui what non-lethal means. If you succeed, I will cut your punishment time by 10 minutes."

"Yes, Ragyo-sama. You are kind and merciful as always!" Rei gave her best and most pleasing smile.

"Indeed, I am," the REVOCS senior executive arrogantly agreed. She left to her desk and prompted the two to leave.

"Okay, Nui," Rei grinned as she put her hand on the Grand Couturier's shoulders. "Today, you're going to learn how to neutralize someone without killing them."

"Okay, but be gentle," the Grand Couturier sarcastically replied.

_This was easy money _she thought to herself. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to explain how to knock someone out. She wondered at all the other things the Grand Couturier didn't know about outside of Ragyo's and REVOCS' influence. Either way, this would take no more than 10 minutes.

**10 hours later**

"Okay, okay," Rei had exhaustively tossed around papers that held no relevance to her original goal. The chalkboard was filled to the brim with ridiculously complex shapes and symbols. Nui sat at her school desk, cheerfully kicking her feet for the past few hours or so. After the fourth hour, she had become just as tired as Rei. "What do you do to someone who attacks you with a steel bat?" the secretary asked tensely.

"Uhm, oh yeah! I knock the bat out of the bully's hands and then I…"

"And then you…" Rei leaded her.

"Knock him out!"

"Excellent!" Rei praised.

Nui continued. "And then I gut him while he's unconscious and burn down his family's ho-"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." Rei was smacking her hand on the teacher's desk with each consecutive "no". "Tell me! What do you do, if he has a different type of bat?"

"The exact same thing as the bully with the steel bat!"

"Right, but without the gutting and burning down of homes."

"Okay," Nui smacked her fist into her palm. "So I just do those things to the bully with the steel bat."

"No!" Rei responded. "You don't do it to any of them. All of them are supposed to live, as in Christophe's rendition of judicial philosophy, in a way that doesn't relate you whatsoever to their inevitable deaths in the real reality."

Nui slumped her arms on to her desk wearily. "Ooooh, this is so confusing…"

Eight more hours of this followed by some after-school practice with some REVOCS interns, and she had basically begun to get the gist of what the term "Non-lethal" meant.

**Present-time (in the slums where 45 unconscious bodies lay):**

"Damn…" Nui said to herself before hitting the large third year on the head with the blunt edge of the scissor blade, thus knocking him out (46). "It just isn't as fun as killing…" She placed the scissor blade back into a concealed compartment in her dress. "You there!" she yelled to the high-schooler who had been hiding behind the trash-bin the whole time. "Eeeeh!" the high-schooler screamed in fright.

Nui let out a long sigh and then put back on her cheerful smile. She extended her hand to the girl like one extends a hand to a frightened kitten. "Now, now, there's no need to be afraid," she assured.

The high-schooler slowly crept out from behind the trash bin. She dusted off her clothes and immediately bolted into a state of relentless energy. "Whoah, you were super cool! You were like, 'You can't beat me, I'm too strong,' and they were all like, "Attaaaack!" and then you were all like Boom! And Pow! And Whoosh!" With her hands, the high-schooler choreographed everything she saw in the bout between the blonde-hair and the gang. "It was like something out of Shounen Jump!" she finished with a hint of exhaustion at her rant. She extended her hand to Nui. "Mako Mankanshoku, want to be friends?"

She didn't know what to make of the girl's energy. "Whoah, slow down, please," Nui waved her hands in a 'slow-down' gesture. The high school student scrapped her energy, backed off and went back to being an introvert.

_What is this human? _Nui thought to herself. Throughout her life, Nui had met many people, killed most of them. And yet, she had never seen a human whose pace was fast enough to overcome hers. _Facinating… _she thought. But still, the only time she would actually need a friend is if she had difficulty finding her way across a town. And thanks to her training from a young age, she had attained the ability to know everything about an area just by being in it for a few seconds. Even so, it would be nice to have someone to talk to outside of the dingy and suffocating space of a REVOCS HQ and who wasn't Rei Hoomaru.

"Alright," Nui said, clapping her hands in a tone of finality. "Let's be friends!" she put out her hand to seal the deal.

The girl, who called herself Mako, quickly and excitedly enclosed Nui's hand with her own. "Wow, my first non-imaginary friend!" Mako observed happily. Nui smiled awkwardly at Mako's observation.

"Mako Mankanshoku, is it?" Nui asked as they walked through Honnoji's slums into the higher quarters.

"That's my name," Mako answered cheerfully. "By the way, what's yours?"

Nui stopped walking. "Huh?" Mako sounded in confusion. Nui's head faced down at the floor as if she was thinking about something. Finally, she raised her head and said, "Shinjiro Nagita."

"Ooooh, Shinjiro, strange name for a girl, but what-evs," Mako said, with the same casual indifference she showed to Nui's other peculiarities. Mako put her arms around "Shinjiro's" shoulders as they toured the rest of Honnoji, laughing and conversing right up to evening.

"And this is my house," Mako said, pointing at a dark and dirty shanty.

Nui stared at the house with the same grin she showed throughout their walks before asking, "So this is where you live?"

"Mhm-mhm," she jubilantly answered. "You wanna come inside?"

Nui thought hard about this. If she were to come inside another girl's house, it might lead to something. Mako stared confusedly at Nui who had started blushing for no particular reason.

Suddenly, a phone's ringing could be heard. "Hold on," Nui answered. "Mhm-mhm yeah." She put the cellphone back in her pocket. "Sorry, but I can't come in today. I have work so…"

"It's okay," Mako replied empathetically. "You've got to do what you got to do."

"Mhm-mhm," she nodded cheerily. The blonde-haired girl pulled out her umbrella and, much to Mako's surprise, started to float away with the wind. "Bye, bye!" she yelled at the floating girl. "Uwah, I just forgot I have school today!"

"A plus tard, mon ami!" Nui smiled as she faded into the evening skyline. When she thought about it, this was the first time she had ever made a real friend.

* * *

**Somewhere, in a metropolitan area far away from Honnoji academy:**

A young girl looked at the school building as students rushed passed her to get to class. She was a 17 year old girl of medium height with mid-length black hair and a single left-swept red highlight on her bangs. Her blue eyes had peculiarly gear-shaped pupils with eight grooves around the edges. Her outfit was a simple white shirt with a red ribbon tie, a black miniskirt, white sneakers, and a black & white jacket with rolled up sleeves.

She looked at the school with scorn before saying, "Hakoniwa Academy, huh? The rumors better be true."

Before venturing through the gate, she gazed at the guitar case she was holding and thought to herself _I'll find out about your killer soon, Dad._

**End of Chapter**


	3. Chapter 3: Hot for Teacher

_'Okay, who wants to read the wildly unnecessary disclaimer this time around.'_

_Satsuki: "Well, I've got nothing better to do..."_

_"Kill la Kill and Medaka Box are not owned by the author. They are property of Studio Trigger and Nisio Isin, respectively. Enjoy."_

* * *

**Chapter 3: Hot for Teacher**

The students at Hakoniwa have seen many peculiar sights in their life time. After all, Hakoniwa was a school whose very existence breathed abnormality. But a girl walking around with a guitar case was a first.

"Okay, settle down," Messhi Kuhahara said with a disinterested tone. "We got a new transfer student here with us. Her name is Matoi Ryuko."

The girl with the guitar case entered the room. "Hmph," Ryuko grumbled. "Is that seat taken?" She pointed to a seat near the window.

"A cliche position," Messhi commented, "But no. It's free."

She walked to the seat all the while ignoring the curious gazes the students were giving her. "Tch, what's wrong with this school."

"Okay, on to our lecture..."

During the lecture, Ryuko tried her best not pass out from boredom. Japanese history wasn't her best subject. All of a sudden, an eraser dropped on the floor near her. When she picked it up, she noticed the girl sitting next to her desk gleaming at her. "Excuse me, but aren't you gonna give that back," the girl smiled.

"Y-yeah," she answered, putting the eraser back on the girl's desk.

* * *

**After class:**

"Hello, Ryuko-chan!" The same girl who dropped the eraser approached Ryuko at her desk. She was an incredibly short girl, with short blue hair arranged in a twirl. She wore the regular Hakoniwa Academy girl's uniform.

"Oh, it's you," Ryuko replied indifferently.

"Hey, don't be like that. You picked up my eraser. I know, let's be friends!"

"What?"

"Yeah! You're really interesting, especially with that guitar case you have. Ooooh, do you play guitar, let me sing!"

Ryuko sighed. _What a strange girl... _"Sure, whatever. The name's Matoi Ryuko. What's yours?"

"Hansode Shiranui, my grandfather is the chairman of this school! In fact, I'm still technically in middle school. But he lets me hang around here anyway."

"I see..." Ryuko got up from her chair.

"Hey, Shiranui Hansode. Other than your grandfather, who else is the big fish around here?"

* * *

**Meanwhile:**

"And so, the Third Reich took over the rest of the German and Polish territories, which sparked the beginning of World War Two." As the class A-2 teacher explained world history to the students, Satsuki and Kumagawa sat there, for the most part ignoring each other. "And that's it for today's lecture." When the teacher was done with his lesson, he quickly shot a glance at Kumagawa, who was still entranced with his manga.

"Kumagawa Misogi," the teacher said. "I would like to see you in my office after class."

"[Did I do something wrong?]" the boy asked as he set his manga down.

"Hmph," the teacher chuckled. "No, nothing wrong at all. I just want to talk to you about your grades."

Noticing that he had no chance in evading this, Kumagawa nodded his head in agreement. Satsuki stared at the two with suspicion as she left class.

* * *

**Later:**

"You actually came!" The professor was surprised at Kumagawa's entrance. He held a pair of binoculars in his hands. "My, my," the professor meekly stated. "I was afraid I would have to track you down, and bring you in by force. This will make things easier."

"[Force? Me?]" the boy said as he smiled at the teacher. "[Professor Mikisugi, was it? I don't think-]"

Kumagawa was interrupted when Aikuro's clothes started sliding off of his body. "[Eh?]" the Minus smiled, disturbed by what he was seeing.

"You see Student Council President Kumagawa," the teacher slid off his glasses, revealing a handsome face. "I'm not just your ordinary teacher." The teacher glided closer to Kumagawa who was nervously averting his gaze, only momentarily taking peeks at the teacher's figure.

"[Uhm, professor, I'm not into this kind of thing.]"

"You misunderstand, Kumagawa." His shirt and pants slid off his body revealing purple glowing nipples. "Ragyo has taken an interest in you, and therefore, my organization has taken an interest in you as well!"

"[Yeah... I'm going to go...]" Before Kumagawa could exit through the door, Aikuro appeared in the front, blocking his escape. "But you can't leave yet."

Whatever the teacher was trying to show him, Kumagawa knew it would end in shame for either if not both of them. "Nudist Beach," the naked man said as he seductively clamored towards the perplexed boy. "That's the name of our organization."

Sensing an opening, Kumagawa immediately bolted for the door, only to be intercepted by Aikuro again. "Listen, I don't enjoy doing this as much as you think I might. Here take this..."

He pulled out a stack of documents from out of nowhere. Kumagawa reluctantly grabbed the documents, promising to wash his hands the moment he could place them on his desk (and probably wash the desk the moment he could place them in the garbage (and for that matter, wash the garbage as well)).

"[Is that all?]" the Minus begged. Aikuro grinned.

"Nudist Beach..." he whispered. Kumagawa realized that the worse was about to come. The naked teacher pursed his lips.

"Nudist... BEEEEEEAAAAAACHHHHHH!"

Having enough of this, Kumagawa decided that the best way to escape the confines of this crazy pervert was to lunge himself out of the window. Before Aikuro could stop him, the boy had already flown out, spreading his arms like wings. The only problem; he couldn't fly.

"[Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!]" the boy screamed as he tumbled three stories down to his demise.

Aikuro, who changed back to his normal teacher facade, looked onto the scene and sighed.

* * *

**Back at Hakoniwa:**

"That would be Kuudou Hinokage. He's the president of the student council. They call him Mister Unknown. Though no one ever sees him, so I guess no one actually calls him that." Ryuko and Hansode walked through the campus.

"Where can I find this Hinokage?" Ryuko asked.

"*munch* You can find him anywhere and nowhere. No one sees him unless he allows them to." Hansode was choking down pastries as she and Ryuko walked to their classes.

"Oh, sounds scary," Ryuko grinned. A bat suddenly swooped in, nearly hitting Ryuko and Hansode. "Who the hell are you?" Ryuko yelled. A delinquent student who carried a titanium bat grinned.

"We are the Mokkin Team!" Another student tried to hit her with a wooden bat, but she easily dodged it. "We've come to take your title away from you, Transfer Student!"

"What title?" Ryuko said, deflecting the sequential attacks with her guitar case.

"Oh, no!" Shiranui proclaimed with her mouth agape. "It's the Mokkin Team, the two most dangerous delinquents. We have to get out of here, Ryuko!"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" The one with the silver bat attacked Hansode, only to be intercepted by Ryuko.

"Tch, you're annoying!" She instantly punched him the face, blowing him back a few inches.

"Don't forget about me!" the one with the wooden bat proclaimed as he lunged at Ryuko. Ryuko sighed and pulled out the weapon she had been carrying in the guitar case. It was a red scissor blade. She used it to cut her assailant's wooden bat to pieces.

"Eh," the boy said as he remained in air. Ryuko then delivered a kick that propelled him ten inches more into the air. "Ahhhhh!" the student dramatically yelled before falling back to the ground.

"Whoah!" Hansode gazed at Ryuko with affirmed glee.

"Have you forgotten about me!?" The man with the titanium bat ran up to the girl but stopped in place when she turned around to glare at him. "A-ahh, you'll pay for this, bitch!" He took his buddy, who was on the ground, and speedily ran away.

Ryuko sighed and put her scissor sword back in it's case. "What the hell is wrong with the people at this school?"

"Whoah," Hansode beamed at her. "That was so cool, Ryuko-chan!"

"Yeah, that was definitely impressive of you, Transfer Student," a voice sounded from behind.

The two turned their heads to the source of the voice. Standing there was a nine-year old boy with silver hair and dark brown eyes. who wore a customized version of Hakoniwa's male uniform. "Those punks have been giving us trouble for quite some time."

"Who are you?" Ryuko asked, pointing her blade at the mysterious boy. The boy speedily walked towards Ryuko despite her blade being trained on him, with his gaze landing on her chest. "My, my, you certainly have a big rack for a kid."

"What?" Ryuko said as she jumped back nervously.

"There's no need to be anxious. I'm the chairman of the Public Morals Committee-"

"Myouri Unzen!" Hansode instantly and inappropriately finished.

"Yeah, what she said..." Suddenly, standing behind him was a freshman girl with brown hair (with spikes along the sides) and green eyes. She wore glasses and yet another customized version of the Hakoniwa outfit, with a skirt going down to her knees.

"Please forgive our chairman's sudden rudeness. I'm Fue Yobuko, and I manage the day-to-day affairs of the Public Morals Committee."

"Fine," Ryuko said as she placed her scissor sword back into its case. "Anyway, will you let us pass already, I don't want to be late to class."

"Sure." Unzen and Yobuko both stepped to the side to allow the two to pass. As Ryuko passed, Myouri quickly whispered something.

"_You can't escape the justice of the Public Morals Committee, bitch!"_

"What was that?!" Ryuko quickly turned around, only to find no one there anymore.

"Come on, Ryuko-chan!" Hansode was running faster than Ryuko thought possible. "We're going to be late for class!"

"G-got ya!" As she ran, she stopped for a second to look back again. _Probably nothing..._ She turned around to see Hansode already 5 miles ahead of her."Hey, wait up!"

* * *

**Back at Honnoji:**

The crowd of onlookers gazed at the bloody corpse, that they imagined was the perfectly (at least physically) healthy body of a boy before he jumped three stories to his death. Then, to their surprise, the body got back up, with all the injuries and blood disappearing at once.

"[Whew, that was a close one!]" the boy said wiping the sweat off his forehead with his right hand. "[I thought I was a goner for sure.]"

As the crowd stood there, completely perplexed by the student's revival, a voice sounded from behind.

"Student Council President Kumagawa!"

"[Huh?]" the boy said as he crooned his neck to see who was addressing him. "[Oh, Suzuki! Back from your vacation I see!]"

"I wasn't on vacation, you lying bastard. Where were you?"

"[Is something the matter?]" The Minus smiled owlishly.

* * *

As they entered the Student Council office, the first thing Kumagawa saw was a boy sitting to the side, gazing intensely into a newspaper column. He wore glasses and the standard Honnoji academy outfit. A tuft of his dark-blue hair covered his left eye.

"This guy's been here for quite a while now. I tried to get him to leave, but he just couldn't be ripped away from that couch. He's been constantly asking to see you."

"[I see...]" Kumagawa said. He approached the boy sitting in the couch. "[You wanted to see me?]" The boy took one look at him and immediately bolted into a state of relentless energy.

"Your Kumagawa right!" he exclaimed, unhesitantly shaking the boy's hand. "My name's Shinjiro Nagita! I know about you and Satsuki!"

"[Oh no!]" Kumagawa bolted back in a state of clearly fake shock. "[Please, don't tell me, you know about that...]" he blushed.

"I know nothing of the sort," Shinjrio said, understanding the message. "But what I do know is that you've been causing a lot of trouble for Satsuki Kiyruin. That's something not a lot of people can do and live to tell the tale about. You may be our one and only hope!"

"[And who is 'our'?]" Kumagawa asked as he sat down opposite to Shinjiro.

"Why that is the student of every single school Satsuki Kiyruin has ever destroyed!" Shinjiro put his leg on the table and began bantering about Satsuki's destructive exploits. "I was once a member of the newspaper club at Hottouki Academy. I was just a freshmen, lapsed on the wheel of love, and with a burning heart for justice. That was until that she-demon known as Satsuki Kiyruin came in with her Elite Four. There was no mercy in her conquest. The Student Council President was beheaded on the spot- er, well not beheaded, but he was definitely not a member of the Student Council anymore."

Shinjiro put his hand on his chest and gazed intensely at Kuamgawa. "Under Satsuki's new rule, the freedom of all students was systematically destroyed! Needing a useful tool for propaganda, Satsuki elected me as the President of Newspaper Club, and expelled the former on the spot! But I wasn't just going to willingly let her make me into a machine for the control of the students. I decided to rebel against her tyranny! I published an unseemly, but true, article about her! Look!" He pointed at the newspaper he was holding.

"The woman's response was swift and brutal. I've been on the run ever since. Eventually, I began to think that it was all hopeless. I was going to sleep in a ditch and die! That was until I heard a rumor about someone who had successfully fought off Satsuki. That rumor led me to you. And so, Student Council President Kumagawa Misogi! Allow me to lend you my strength. You can be the sword and I the quill! Together we'll drive Satsuki Kiyruin out of this wonderful academy and end her tyranny forever!"

By the end of Shinjro's speech, Kumagawa was already crying uncontrollably. "[*sniff* That's really brave of you Shinjiro-kun. Yes! Let's defeat Satsuki Kiyruin for love and justice and stuff!]"

"It's okay, Kumagawa." They were both hugging and crying uncontrollably together. Suzuki looked at the scene and sighed embarrassingly.

Suddenly, the doors swung wide open. "Shinjiro!" a pack of buff looking students yelled as they entered.

Shinjiro paused one second to take a look at them. "Oh crap, they found me!" he yelled. He grabbed Kumagawa's hand and made a beeline for the exit. "Come with me, Kumagawa, I know a great hiding place." Kumagawa, who was being gripped on tightly by Shinjiro's unusual strength, had no choice but to comply.

"What about me?" Suzuki asked, pointing to himself as he stood there. The gorilla-like students took one look at the boy, and then immediately ran after Kumagawa and Shinjiro. "Hm, that's strange..."

* * *

**Meanwhile, at Hakoniwa:**

"So do you know where this President Hinokage is?" Ryuko asked as she and Hansode walked out of their second class.

"He usually likes to hang out in empty classrooms, where he can read in peace," Hansode answered, munching on some piece of meat. "If you'd like, I can take you to him."

"Yeah, I would like that very much!" Ryuko replied ecstatically.

* * *

The two female students approached what looked like a completely empty classroom. Ryuko slowly entered the doorway, only to be pushed completely in by an impatient Hansode.

"Hey! Watch it!" Ryuko warned. When she turned her head to view the classroom, "There's no one here." She walked through the classroom. The desks were completely empty. There didn't seem to be an aura of life anywhere.

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that," Hansode stated.

When Ryuko turned her head, her eyes met the figure of a towering giant. "Gah!" she yelled in surprise before jumping back. She took out her scissor blade and pointed it at the man. "How did you-?"

Her question was cut short by Hansode. "That's President Hinokage, or Mister Unknown as he is not called."

"I told you that no one sees him unless he allows them to," Hansode snickered.

"It's been a while, Miss Shiranui," the giant dropped his book and stood up. Other than his hugeness, the only other special feature of his was his spiked up hair. Ryuko pointed the scissor blade at him menacingly.

"Uhm, excuse me," Hinokage said, rubbing his hair. "But could you please put that away. I'm not really good with sharp objects."

Ryuko sensed no malice in Hinokage. "Sorry," Ryuko said as she put the scissor blade back in its case.

"No problem," Hinokage laughed. "I'm used to it."

After a moment of silence, Ryuko decided to ask Hinokage the question that brought her to Hakoniwa Academy. "Have you ever seen this sword?"

Hinokage slumped his arms and thought deeply about Ryuko's question. "No, can't say I have."

_Damn _Ryuko thought. _Another dead end... _"Come on, Hansode."

"Then again..." Hinokage perched his hand on his chin. "That scissor sword of yours is pretty unique. May I see it?"

"I guess..." Ryuko carefully handed the case to the man.

"Just as I thought."

"Just as you thought what?!" Ryuko quickly grabbed the case from the man's hands and glared at him suspiciously. He continued.

"The feeling I get resonating from this scissor sword is abnormal. In this school exists an elite class of students called Class 13 who exhibit abnormal abilities and skills. If my hunch is right, one of them should know more about the blade."

"And where can I find this Class 13?" Ryuko glared at the giant.

"Oh, well, they don't usually come to school. Their geniuses, so they get to be exempt from all lessons."

"Great," Ryuko sighed. Just when she had gotten a lead.

"Actually," Hinokage went on."There is one member of Class 13 who visits school often. He's the chairman of the Public Morals Committee: Myouri Unzen."

Ryuko had heard a name she had not hoped to nor expected to hear. "That weirdo!" Ryuko blurted out.

"I see you've already met him," Hinokage sighed. "You should see him if you want to know more about whatever you're looking for. He may appear brash at times, but he means well."

Ryuko face-palmed at the thought of having to meet that jerk a second time. "Is that all?" Ryuko asked.

"One more thing," he stated. "People tend to forget that I exist the moment they leave this room. Here's my card." He handed a card, showing his contact information, and a name and picture. "Keep this, should you require my services. Oh, and Shiranui?" He looked at Hansode who was sitting on a desk, cheerfully kicking her feet. "Make sure she doesn't throw the card away or something."

"Yes, sir, Mister President," she nodded. He turned to Ryuko.

"Hansode is one of the few people who can remember my existence for a very long time. I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for!" He suddenly disappeared, leaving Ryuko and Hansode alone.

* * *

"Do people at this academy mysteriously disappear often, Shiranui-san?" Ryuko asked as they walked out of the classroom. She immediately stopped and started looking around the hallway with a confused expression. "Wait, what am I doing here?" she said.

"Looks like you already forgot," Hansode stated.

"Forget what? Weren't you about to introduce me to Hinokage."

"You already met him, silly?"

"What?"

"Don't freak out!" Hansode reached into the girl's pockets. "It's his Mister Unknown ability. Normal people often forget him the instance they leave that classroom." Ryuko turned her head to look at a completely empty classroom. "Here." Shiranui clasped a card into Ryuko's hand. It held the photo and contact information of a boy she had never seen before. Under the photo was the name Kuudou Hinokage.

"Gah!" Ryuko yelled in bewilderment. Hansode chuckled.

"Yeah, everyone does that the first time around."

Ryuko gazed at the picture and then at Hansode and then back at the picture. _She's not kidding! _she thought. She took one long breath and sighed.

"So, what did we discuss in there?" Ryuko asked, still a hint of bafflement on her countenance.

The gears in Hansode's head clicked in place as she recalled Ryuko's and Hinokage's discussion. "You showed him the scissor blade. He said he never saw it before, but then when you were about to leave, he said that someone might know."

"And who was that?" Ryuko asked.

"The Chairman of the Public Morals Committee: Myouri Unzen."

Ryuko had heard a name she had not hoped to nor expected to hear. "That weirdo!" Ryuko blurted out.

Hansode let out a long sigh. "This is going to take a while."

* * *

**Back at Honnoji:**

Kumagawa and Shinjrio were darting off through the slums as the ape-like students chased after them. "Don't let them escape!" one of the group yelled.

"Over here!" Shinjiro said. Still holding firmly onto Kumagawa's hand, he hid himself with the boy in a nearby shanty. He put his hand on Kumagawa's mouth and nervously peeked outside.

"Where are they?" one of the group said.

"Search the lower slums!" As the goons left the area, Shinjiro let out a sigh. He took his hand off Kumagawa's mouth and stood up.

"That was a close one," he said, dusting off his clothes. "Sorry about that."

"[No, it's okay]" the boy said, getting up as well. "[I'm not good at fighting, so running away was the right choice.]"

"Really!" Shinjiro exclaimed. "I would've assumed that someone, who could muck up Satsuki's plans, would be exceptionally strong!"

"[Nope!]" the Minus quickly replied. "[I'm the weakest living being on this planet.]"

"I see..."

"[Even so...]" Kumagawa cut into Shinjiro's train of thought. "[Would you like me to walk you to your home? I'm assuming you have one here.]"

Kumagawa pranced around striking cool poses. "[It's the duty of a Student Council President to protect his precious students from any and all possible threats!]"

Shinjiro gazed at him with unlimited admiration. "Kumagawa...!"

"[I'm used to baseless accusations and petty attacks, so I know the best hiding spots!]" The Minus still struck cool poses as he said this.

"Er, yes," Shinjiro replied, a tad bit disappointed. "Please take me to my apartment."

* * *

The two men walked for several minutes, rode the lift, and walked for several more. Sunset had hit the Honnoji skyline quickly.

As they turned the next corner, Shinjiro pointed at a regular looking building, several blocks away. "That's my apartment," he said.

"[Whoah, that's a nice looking apartment for someone on the run!]" the Minus proclaimed in awe.

"Yeah, well it's important to pick the most unassuming places to hide," Shinjiro stated with satisfaction at his friend's awe.

"[I guess this is where we part ways]" Kumagawa said as he shook Shinjro's hand a second time.

"Indeed it is!" Shinjiro jovially proclaimed. As they parted, Shinjiro turned around and waved to Kumagawa. "See you later, my friend!"

Kumagawa took one look at him and smiled. "[Yeah, see you later too!]" he said, waving goodbye.

As they both turned away from each other, a broken smile began to appear on Kumagawa's lips. "[Yeah, see you later too, 'Shinjiro'-chan...]" he whispered to himself.

* * *

Satsuki looked upon the two from the balcony of her suite.

"Tch, who's that other boy?" she said to herself. "Hoka!"

"Yes, ma'am," the boy immediately responded. Uzu, Nonon, and Ira were there as well.

"Apparently, his name is Shinjiro Nagita... He used to be a member of the Newspaper Club until Kumagawa had him leave. Even so, they seem to be getting along pretty well. Either Kumagawa doesn't remember Shinjiro or...

"There's something darker at work," Satsuki finished. She felt the exact same feeling emanating from Shinjiro as she felt from the Grand Couturier. _Damn it, Mother _Satsuki thought. _Why did you have to get her, of all people, involved?_

"Lady Satsuki," Uzu said. "Would you like me to tail this Shinjiro guy."

"Don't do anything of the sort!" Satsuki immediately yelled. Uzu visibly jumped in shock. "'He' is not someone I want any of you to get involved with. Right now, we should only be focusing on Kumagawa." Actually, when she thought about, Kumagawa was not someone she wanted to get involved with either.

* * *

**Earlier, at the Kiryuin Mansion:**

"Let me see her!" Satsuki yelled to the servants.

"Lady Satsuki..." It was Takiji Kuroido, the steward of the Kiyruin family, who takes care of the mansion while Ragyo's away. He was a pudgy man, who wore a tuxedo and kept a cigar in his mouth. "I'm afraid that the madam has asked not to be disturbed at this hour."

"It's okay, Kuroido," a voice sounded from the door. "Let her through."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Coming into the office, she noticed her mother sitting with her elbows on her desk. "It's been a while since we've talked with each other," her mother said. Satsuki clenched her fists.

"Why did you send the Grand Couturier, of all people, to Honnoji?"

"Oh..." Ragyo stood up and walked to Satsuki. "I assumed you just came here to visit your dear mom." She put her hands on Satsuki's shoulders.

"Knock it off!" she said with a stern frown. Ragyo took her hands off of Satsuki's shoulders. "I promised I would take over the academy by myself, Mother. And yet you get Rei and Nui involved in a timespan of one day."

"That's all true," Ragyo exclaimed. "But it's not at all what you think." She turned to Satsuki and grinned. "I have no intention of getting in the way of your little conquest. I just wanted to know more about this boy who's been giving you, a Kiyruin, so much trouble."

Satsuki knew who she was talking about. _Damn it... So she already knows about him! _Meaning, that the"strange girl" who visited Kumagawa last night was most definitely Nui Harime. The thought of those two meeting thoroughly disgusted her. Her mother may have not known it yet, but she may have just ensured the world's (and for that matter, all of reality's) complete destruction.

"Even so..." Satsuki stepped up. "Kumagawa Misogi is not someone that can easily fall into your hands. No, not even you can own him, Ragyo!" Ragyo was visibly surprised at the Satsuki's bold statement. She was the kind of woman who, if she saw something she wanted, would've stopped at nothing to have it. What Satsuki had just issued her was an indirect challenge! Satsuki continued.

"That man is crawling chaos. A mix between good and evil." She glared her mother right in the eye. "Someone as earthly as you can't even hope to comprehend his twisted existence!"

A large grin appeared on Ragyo's face. "Fascinating! I can't even wait to meet this boy anymore!" she exclaimed.

"Hmph," Satsuki sounded. She wondered whether she should tell Ragyo about [All-Fiction].

As she turned around, she noticed that the door had been automatically locked.

"You didn't think you could say all that to me and leave unpunished," Ragyo grinned as she pointed to a nearby bed.

Satsuki knew what would happen next. She was trying her hardest not to cry.

"Strip," her mother ordered. She slowly and hesitantly slid off her clothes and immediately walked to the bed.

As a naked Satsuki lay on the mattress, her mother slowly approached. She caressed every pore and body part as if it were her own. Tears welled up in Satsuki's eyes as her Mother touched her in each and every place.

"Yes," Ragyo said. "That look of despair is what I love most about you!"

_Best not _Satsuki thought to herself. She wanted her mother and the Grand Couturier to learn about [All-Fiction] the hard way. If Kumagawa could make them suffer, that would be a bonus.

* * *

**Meanwhile (Back at Hakoniwa):**

"So what you're saying is that there is a class of students with powers called abnormalities in this school?"

"Yep!" Hansode said as they walked through the hall.

"And that this Unzen kid is one of them?"

"Hmh hmh!"

"And that Hinokage told me to go to him if I want to find out more about my scissor blade?"

"Oui!"

As they walked to the Public Morals Committee, Ryuko could swear she heard gunshots somewhere. She patted her hair. "They allow guns in here or somethi- Hey! Hansode, where are you going?!" Hansode was already a few meters away from her.

"To where the gunshots are!" she exclaimed.

"What, are you crazy!?" Ryuko exclaimed following her. "You could get hurt! Let the authorities deal with this!" It was no use. By the time Hansode stopped running, they were already staring at the room where the sounds took place.

An out of breath Ryuko gazed at the door and Hansode at the same time. "Hey, don't dart off like that, damn it!"

"We need to go in there," Hansode said with a serious look on her face. She immediately opened the door.

"Hey, wait up!" Ryuko followed. Upon entering, Ryuko's blood froze as she saw all the students beaten, bruised, and laying on the floor.

"What the hell is this?"

At the center of this mess, stood a small boy, who looked like he had been holding something in his right hand. He turned to Hansode and Ryuko and grinned.

"We meet again, Transfer Student."

Ryuko found who she was looking for. "Unzen!"

* * *

**Earlier, in the empty classroom:**

As Ryuko and Hansode left the classroom, Hinokage's gentle smile instantly transformed into a scrutinizing scowl. _What would someone with that kind of weapon be doing at this school? _he pondered. He had seen many abnormalities in his tenure as Student Council President. However, seeing something abnormal as that scissor blade in the hands of someone as normal as that highschool girl was bizarre even for him. Come to think of it, he hadn't even asked its owner for her name. How could he forget to do that and yet be so receptive so early on?

The answer hit him as fast as lightning. _Shiranui! _It seems that he had been manipulated into doing something the chairman wanted yet again. That granddaughter of his, with her Real Eater, is really scary. Who knows what kind of modified ability she could be using at the moment? Even so, he didn't have much evidence to go on that he could immediately accuse the Chairman of malpractice (as usual). Right now, he needed to investigate...

He got up from his chair and slowly crept out of the classroom. As for that scissor blade owner. _I should keep an eye on her as well. If the Chairman would go to all this trouble just to bother one student, then she definitely is someone I need to keep careful watch over!_

* * *

**Later, in the art practice room:**

"Unzen!" Ryuko shouted. The beaten and bruised bodies of art club members laid throughout the room. She immediately felt like an idiot for ignoring the gunshots as if they were a common part of life. But even so...

"What did you do?" Shiranui shouted.

"Ah," Unzen grinned. "Hansode Shiranui, was it? You've been hanging out with Miss Transfer Student for a while now?" He closed the distance between them in a matter of seconds. "Don't think that just because you're grandpa is the Chairman of this school, you can do whatever the hell you want, you damn loli?"

"Hey, leave her alone!" Ryuko unsheathed her blade and pointed it to Unzen. Before she could react, he had already jumped several paces back... with the scissor blade in hand! "Wha-?!"

"Hey, this is a pretty interesting weapon!" He playfully examined the weapon that, a few seconds ago, was in Ryuko's hands. "So, who did you steal this from, 'Kanto Vagabond, Guitar Case Drifter'!"

Ryuko scowled at the saying of that name. "So you know about that?"

"Oh, I know plenty of things about you!" He threw the scissor blade back at Ryuko. The force in which she caught it nearly broke her wrist.

"What are you? Some kind of stalker?" she quipped, ignoring the pain in her wrist.

"I know that you're nothing but filth that has been plaguing the other schools as of late. I know about how you don't show mercy at all to your opponents and go so far as to attack their families if pushed! I know this, because I am the Public Morals Chairman as well as its lead Enforcer. So, Matoi Ryuko-kun! Is this scene to your liking?"

"In fairness," Ryuko replied, "It's down-right sickening! What did these people ever do to you?!"

Unzen started laughing. "I didn't expect you to be a hypocrite as well! You may think that this was simply a club for people who like to paint fruit and stuff, but many delinquents used this place as a party lounge. Eventually, the other clubs got annoyed with the smoking and loud music and called me in to 'correct' the situation."

Ryuko gazed across the room. True, she had seen many students who she recognized (from experience) to be bonafide juvenile delinquents. Upturned collars, tacky hair, socks and sandals... But she also saw some who looked like genuine club members at practice. "What about the students who actually came here to practice?"

"Well, it ain't justice if you don't go all out," he snickered. He walked to the body of a particular club member and grabbed the boy's hair. "These guys were harboring criminals against the wishes of the Public Morals Committee. So they had to be purged like the rest!" He let go of the student's hair. "Relax, they're not dead, and I called the nurse beforehand."

"That's overkill!" Hansode shouted in anger. "Couldn't you have resolved this situation more peacefully?"

"Peacefully...?" Unzen's grin turned into a deep, disgusted frown. "How naive," he shouted. "You think everything can be solved with peace and flowers and all that bullshit!? People are inherently bad, so there's no reason not to hold back in the administration of justice."

"I don't know much about justice or peace," Ryuko said, stepping in. "But I do know a complete asshole when I see one. And you fit the bill perfectly!" She pointed the blade at Unzen again, uncaring if he grabs it out of her hand a second time.

"Hmph," Unzen sneered. "That's definitely an interesting weapon you got there. In fact, I think I might've seen it somewhere before."

"Where?!" Ryuko responded.

Seeing her response, he smiled sadistically. "I'm not telling!"

"Tch..." The first few seconds she had interacted with him were utter frustration. It was clear that he was just trying to troll her. But still, she couldn't let go of a vital piece of information that might help her find her father's killer. "Then I'll have to beat out of you!"

A bloodthirsty grin appeared on the nine year-old's face. "Bring it on!"

* * *

**Later, at Honnou town Slums District:**

"Dad, Mom, Brother, Guts, I'd like you to meet my new friend!"

"Hello," Nui smiled nervously.

"Friend! Did I hear right?!" Bazaro rushed down the hall, pantsless, as he always does whenever a delivery suddenly comes in the morning. "Hello, my name's Bazaro Mankanshoku, but you can just call me Bazaro! I'm this girl's father."

"Shinjiro Nagita, but you can just call me Shinjro," Nui said, shaking his hand.

"Oh my god, you're real. My daughter's finally made a friend!" Tears strolled down his eyes. "And so respectful. Hey, you wouldn't happen to come from a rich family...?"

"Dad!" Mako yelled.

"Sorry, sorry," he apologized, scratching his head. He looked at his watch. "Oh crap, I gotta get out of here in 5 minutes. Where are my pants?"

"In the dishwasher, like usual," a feminine voice sounded from the kitchen.

"Oh, I always leave them there!" He rushed to the kitchen and, seconds later, came out wearing soggy pants. "Well, I'm off!" he waved to Mako and Nui. "Things have been really busy at the clinic ever since that gang raided it a few days ago. Oh, yeah!" He turned to Mako who was taking her shoes off at the doorstep. "Your brother Mataro's out with his gang like usual, so make sure he doesn't do anything stupid while I'm out."

"Will do!" Mako smiled.

"That's my girl!" He turned to Nui. "Nice meeting you again, Shinjiro! I hope you feel as welcome as possible in the house of Mankanshoku. Well, I'm off!" And like that, he stormed off in a energetic frenzy that caught the eyes of a few slummers.

"Your dad's certainly... fast," Nui commented to Mako.

"Hmh hm," Mako replied. "Runs in the family. Speaking of which, are you going to just stand there all day, or do you want see the rest of my pad?" She extended her hand to Nui.

Nui looked at the invitation with a hint of perplexity. "Yep!" she smiled, grabbing Mako's hand.

* * *

**Back at Hakoniwa:**

"Damn..." An out-of-breath Ryuko was about to collapse from the exhaustion of trying to hit an ever-dodging Unzen.

"What's wrong, 'Kanto Drifter', Transfer student-kun?" Unzen asked mockingly as he smoothly dodged her attacks.

"Damn it, stay still you small bastard!"

"Small...?" He darted a ball of what looked like pure steel at Ryuko's shin.

"Gah!" she cried in pain as she knelt down. Unzen landed besides his opponent and immediately began deriding her.

"You're kneeling after that hard of a blow? I didn't even put 1/16 of my strength into that shot. This is boring. Kanraku! Rankaku!"

"Yes, sir!" Two students entered the door behind him. They both wore the modified uniforms of the Public Morals Committee. The one known as Kanraku Kunisaki was a boy who had brown hair, bushy eyebrows and a upside-down bicycle slumped on his shoulder. The other one known as Rankaku Yoshinogari was a boy with short light brown hair, a perpetual frown on his face, and six claws, three each on one hand.

Unzen turned to the two. "This maggot isn't even worth crushing beneath my foot. Would you two Enforcers kindly beat her until she can't move?"

The two men grinned at each other. "Sure, boss!" Rankaku replied before leering at Ryuko.

"You disappoint me, Ryuko-chan. Come on, Yobuko, we're leaving." Fue Yobuko appeared at the doorway the moment he said her name. "Yes, chairman," she responded coldly.

"Wait, damn it!" Ryuko had her left arm outstretched towards Unzen who was half-way at the door. "Tell me what you know about the scissor blade!"

Upon closer inspection, Rankaku noticed a scissor blade laying on the floor in Ryuko's right hand. "Hey, Kunisaki," he turned to the other Enforcer. "Don't you think we should confiscate that blade?"

"No way!" Ryuko suddenly bolted up and swung the blade at the enforcers' direction, although it was obvious that her shin was still in pain. The two men dodged the attack and quickly jumped back.

"Hey, now! Don't make this harder than it needs to be..." the one with the claws reasoned.

"We'll make this quick and painless as long as you don't try to do something stupid like fighting back," the one with the bicycle added.

"Oh no!" Hansode, who had stayed in the sidelines the whole time, cut in. "Those are the top tier Enforcers of Hakoniwa Academy. It's said that Kunisaki Kanraku is someone who can destroy an entire student council with ease!"

"...And...," Rankaku cut in.

"And what?" Hansode answered.

"Nevermind..."

"It seems that your friend agrees, so why don't you give up?" an ever-grinning Kunisaki asked.

Ryuko took her scissor blade and sliced it across Kunisaki's shirt. "Because I'm not going to get any answers if I just let you bastards tell me what to do!" To her surprise, the scissor blade didn't even make a dent in the uniform.

"He, he, nice try transfer student," Kunisaki snickered. "But our Enforcer uniforms are tough as iron. A normal blade can't cut through them."

Ryuko jumped back and kept her blade trained on the two. "I've been hearing that word 'Enforcer' a lot. What's that mean?"

"Enforcers are sort of like the heart of the Public Morals Committee," Hansode cut in again. "They patrol around the school and keep the peace. They're so important that the school lets them carry weapons around freely. For a time, they were a peaceful and trustworthy group. That was until Unzen took over and made things more violent. Now they rule the school with an iron fist!"

"What she said," Rankaku affirmed. "As for our Enforcer uniforms. Our jackets are made out of a highly protective but heavy material called Snow White, which was developed in labs to resist high impacts and heat."

"So you can't cut us with that over-sized scissor of yours," Kunisaki finished.

"Hmph... Modified uniforms? That's the stupidest thing I've heard of since coming here!"

"What was that?!" Kunisaki growled.

"As for my blade..." Ryuko turned the blade to the sharper edge. "You're iron uniforms just mean that I don't have to hold back!"

"Tch." Rankaku's frown grew deeper. "Are you mocking us!?" The man charged at Ryuko with his claws. Despite her injuries, she was able to easily dodge the attack.

"Damn it!" Rankaku shouted. "I am an emotionless guillotine of the Enforcers. All shall perish before my blades." He charged at Ryuko again, but, to no avail, missed her by a quarter inch. Kunisaki and Hansode watched the two dance around the art club room with fervor anticipation.

"Hey, hey, Yoshinogari," Kanraku shouted. "You going to hit this girl or what?"

"I'm trying," Rankaku replied as he swung his claws at an ever-dodging Ryuko.

"Whoah, that was close," Ryuko bounced back from Rankaku's attack. Upon landing, the pain in her knee started to give in and she knelt down. Noticing the opening she left him, Rankaku grinned and immediately went in for the killing blow, only to be deflected by Ryuko's scissor blade.

"This thing's hard as diamonds!" Rankaku observed as him and Ryuko crossed blades. Before Ryuko could hit him back, Rankaku had jumped two steps back.

"Kunisaki!" he yelled.

"I'm ready." Unlike before, Kunisaka was holding the bike right up with the wheels slumped on his shoulders. "Have a taste of my Killer Bike, bitch!" he yelled as he pumped oxygen into the tires. Within a second, the bike was in mid-air ready to slam into Ryuko's face.

"Holy shit!" she exclaimed as she deflected the incoming bicycle with her scissor blade. Kunisaki stood there with his arms crossed and a smug grin adorning his face. "What the hell!" Even though she had deflected the object, it was still riding along her scissor blade with tires rubbing along the flat-edge. "What is this?" Ryuko asked as she was struggling to hold the weight of an ever moving bike on her blade.

"He, he," Kunisaki grinned. "That's my Killer Bike technique. It propels the bike like a boomerang. It won't stop until it's returned to it's master." Ryuko and Hansode stared at the student with disbelief. Noticing an opening, Rankaku charged at Ryuko with both of his hand-blades aimed at her. That, however, was what Ryuko planned for.

"You want this bike back!" she yelled as her scissor sword neared her shoulders. "Then you can have it!" Immediately, she turned to Rankaku (who was in mid-air) and swung the moving bike toward him. His grin shattered as a 50 pound vehicle of steel smashed into his face. As Kunisaki had said, the bike behaved like a boomerang (with Rankaku on-board) and immediately swung back into Kunisaki's arms. Rankaku, however, was propelled straight into a wall the moment Kunisaki had caught the bike.

Kunisaki grinned at Rankaku who had his face implanted into cement. "You need to work on your timing. How else can you expect to close as many cases as yours truly?"

"Mmphmphm," the boy muffled as he struggled to get his head out. Kunisaki turned to Ryuko who was breathing hard from stress.

_I can't take another one of those Killer Bikes or whatever _Ryuko thought. _I have to come up with a plan._

* * *

Throughout the scuffle, the chairman of Hakoniwa, Hakama Shiranui, had peered at the whole scene from the window of his room opposite the art club. His room was almost always kept well-lit, except for this one time.

"That boy went overboard again," Hakama commented. "Perhaps it was a mistake to give Unzen all that exaggerated info on our new transfer student."

"Nonsense," a boy had commented from the shadows. "You know how Myouri is. That art club's fate was sealed the moment it was reported to the Public Morals Committee."

"Hmph," Hakama shrugged. "You may be right." He peered out his window again to see that Ryuko had defeated Rankaku. "I have to admit, that girl is quite the combatant. Her movements, while a little rough, carry on that air of combat experience." He turned to the boy who hid in the shadows. The boy smirked.

"Perhaps, she is a woman fit to be my bride." As he came out of the shadows, an air of domination carried itself around the room. The lights came back on despite the lightswitch not being touched. "I look forward to seeing how this Ryuko handles being an enemy of Unzen Myouri."

Hakama sighed. The boy who came out of the shadows had red eyes and yellow hair spiked up. His academy uniform was slightly tattered with a frayed collar, lacked a tie, and had cuffs which were designed to look like the kanji for king. He wore red earrings, a hooked skull necklace, and a purple band around his neck.

"You know how much I hate the dark," the boy had said as he fell into Hakama's sofa.

"Sorry about that, I thought I had a different visitor," he apologized. "Shouldn't you be overseeing the Flask Plan's database operations?"

The boy frowned. "Is that anyway to talk to your king," he replied. "Naze's currently using the facility for one of her organic experiments. I don't want to be around when things get messy. Bring me some tea."

As he had ordered, Hakama walked over to the tea-maker. He brought the student some tea and then paced back to his desk. It was no use ignoring a direct order from Oudo Myakonojou. Hakama had known that. "I assume that the rest of the Class 13 is also outside of the facility as well."

Oudo took a large sip of the warm tea. "Everyone but Naze-san, of course, and Munakata who stuck behind to make sure no biological disaster escaped the facility," he answered.

_So everyone's outside_ Hakama thought. Depending on whether his employer was keen on letting Class 13's top elites interact with Matoi Ryuko or not, it seemed he no longer had any say in the matter.

* * *

Back at the art club room, Kunisaki was gearing to throw another bike at Ryuko. "Have another taste of my Killer Bike!" he yelled as he threw the projectile. She deflected the bike only to have it run along her blade again. Kunisaki crossed his arms with a satisfied grin, and Hansode watched the scene in utter suspense.

As the bike ran along her scissor blade, nearing her face each time her strength gave out, she remembered how the other Enforcer grabbed onto Kunisaki's bike before being flung off of it. Figuring she had no other choice, Ryuko lowered her sword, letting the bike hit her completely.

"Ryuko!" Hansode yelled. The projectile had carried the girl straight into a wall. The impact was so powerful that it formed debris. Kunisaki's grin grew wider.

"Looks like you couldn't handle the second Killer Bike so well," he laughed. A voice sounded from the debris.

"Oh, yeah," Ryuko had plunged out of the dust, riding the spinning bike like an actual boomerang.

"What!" Kunisaki yelled as he tried to get away from the bike and the crazy woman riding it.

"Then let's see how you handle my Killer Finisher." The bike had hit Kunisaki straight in the face, propelling him to the ceiling. As he landed down, Ryuko caught up to him mid-air and sliced his enforcer uniform to pieces, leaving only his underwear. They both landed on the floor seconds after.

"Damn it!" Kunisaki cried as he grabbed the bike and whatever dignity he had left. Rankaku had ripped his head away from the cement only to be met with a crying and almost naked Kunisaki.

"We're getting out of here, Yoshinogari!" He was half-way at the door.

"What are you talking about? You and I can still fight," Rankaku responded as he dragged his claws up.

Kunisaki turned to Rankaku and gave an intimidating look that chilled him down to his spine. "Now!"

"Yes, s-sir!" Both the boys left the art club room. Ryuko sighed in relief that the fight was over.

"Nice job, Ryuko," Hansode congratulated as she patted the Transfer on the back. "You really showed those Enforcers!"

"Yeah," Ryuko sighed. "I really-" She collapsed on the floor from exhaustion.

"Ryuko!" Hansode cried. Seeing Ryuko unconscious, she immediately dropped the whole energetic best friend act.

"Hmph, looks like all those attacks finally took their toll on you." She stared at an empty space in the room. "How long have you been standing there?" she asked with a clearly fake cheerful smile. Hinokage suddenly appeared in the empty space. He met Hansode's smile with a deep frown.

"Did you watch the whole thing from there?" Hansode prodded. Hinokage approached the unconscious Ryuko's body.

"I've only just arrived," he said as he picked up the body. He glared at Hansode. "I actually thought she was your friend. Perhaps I was being too naiive in my assumptions."

Hansode's smirk changed to a menacing frown. "I'm only doing what I'm ordered," she explained. "As for Ryuko, you won't tell her about the conversation we had here?"

As Hinokage carried the body half-way through the door, he looked back to Hansode. "Only because I have no idea what you or the chairman are planning," he replied before carting Ryuko off to the infirmary.

Hansode stood there with an evil smirk. "No one ever knows what Shiranui Hansode is planning," she said to herself.

**End of Chapter**


	4. Chapter 4: I Fought the Law

'Okay,_ who's going to read the wildly unnecessary disclaimer this time? Gamagori-san?'_

_Gamagori: *clears throat and taps his hand on the script to make sure there's no dust on it*_

_'Um, Gamagori-san. The readers are waiting.'_

_Gamagori: Kill la Kill and Medaka Box are not owned by the author. They are property of Studio Trigger and Nisio Isin, respectively. Enjoy! *Looms over each and everyone who's reading this with a discerning scowl* Or else!_

**Chapter 4: I Fought the Law**

* * *

**Hakoniwa Infirmary:**

Ryuko awoke to find herself in the Hakoniwa Academy infirmary. When she bent her stiff neck upwards from the comfortable pillow, she could see two things. From outside the windows, it was already the afternoon and students were just about leaving school. Sitting on the waiting chairs opposite the windows was Shiranui Hansode, cheerfully eating some snacks, still completely oblivious to Ryuko's awakening.

"Hansode..." Ryuko rather meekly said. Hansode stopped what she was doing to see that Ryuko had woken up.

"Oh..." she paused for a few seconds. "Ryuko! You're awake!" Hansode had been in her usual cheery behavior. Ryuko rubbed her head. She felt like she had been hit by a 400 pound truck. Her ears were still ringing from the sound she imagined would occur at such a scenario.

"Did you bring me here?" she asked. As Hansode perked her fingers up to answer, Ryuko noticed that the guitar case holding her scissor blade was safely at her bedside.

"That would be Mr. Unknown."

"Kudou-san!" Ryuko responded in a fit of bewilderment. Suddenly, her memories of her fight with the Enforcers began to peak. _How could Kudou Hinakage be mixed up in all of this?_

"Yeah, he showed up and carried you all the way over here." Hansode got from her chair and walked to Ryuko's bedside. She looked at the case and, instantly, curiosity began to take hold of her.

"H-hey, don't touch that!" Ryuko exclaimed as she tried to get out of her bed. Her stiff leg made it difficult to stand up right. When she pulled the covers, she noticed several bandages covering her right leg, as well as her face and a portion of her stomach.

"Don't overexert yourself," the other girl said in unusually authoritative tone. She pulled her hands away from the guitar case to push Ryuko back down into her bed. "The doctor said that you're lucky enough you only got away with a few scrapes. If you had fought Unzen seriously for only a few more seconds, you might've become crippled."

Ryuko saw the worry on Hansode's face and calmed down. She noticed that other than her and Shiranui Hansode, there was no 'doctor' to be found in the infirmary. When she looked under her shirt, she could see some bandages around her... chest.

"Okay, who's this pervert 'doctor'!?" she immediately bolted out.

**Meanwhile, at the Honnou slums: **

Nui and the rest of the Mankanshoku family sat at the dinner table as Sukoyo Mankanshoku (Mako's mother) poured what looked like unidentifiable matter into a dinner bowl.

"Eat up, dear," Sukuyo smiled.

"Hm hmh, Nui nodded. She gazed at the matter that Sukuyo called croquettes with both curiosity and disgust.

"Come on, Shinjiro!" Mako was filling her maw with the things. "Get them before Guts eats your plate."

Nui looked down to see a pug dressed in a grey hoodie eating the croquettes off her dinner plate.

"Bad, Guts. No!" Mako tossed the dog outside, only for it come crashing through the window to lick whatever was left on Nui's plate.

"It's okay," Nui replied as she put the plate to the side.

"Nonsense," Mako immediately flung the croquettes into Nui's mouth before she could react. "These croquettes are specially made by Mama Mankanshoku from 90% unidentifiable matter and 10% store bought products."

"I don't think-" Nui couldn't respond because Mako was stuffing what looked like the entire dinner table into her mouth. "That-" The croquettes were surprisingly tasty!

"I'm home." Bazaro Mankanshoku saw his daughter force-feeding her friend a batch of his wife's croquettes. This scene didn't faze him in anyway. "Guess who I found prowling through our clinic?" He pulled out a defunct a 9 year-old boy with brown-hair and goggles. The boy tried his hardest to escape Bazaro's grasp.

"Let go of me!" he ordered. Bazaro took his hand off the boys shirt. As the boy landed perfectly on the floor, he gazed at the dinner table to see someone new currently having their mouth stuffed by Mako.

"Hey, sis. Who's this?" the boy asked. Mako quit stuffing Nui's face to turn to the boy.

"She's my friend," Mako replied.

"A friend!" the boy exclaimed as he turned to the blonde girl. "Hello my name's Mataro," he said as he sat down.

"Shinjiro," Nui replied, a tad bit thankful that she could speak again.

"Shinjiro..." Mataro crossed his arms. "That's like the coolest name ever!" he bolted out. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to come from a rich family?" Bazaro immediately delivered a chop to Mataro's head.

"Ow!" Mataro twitched in pain.

"Be nice," Bazaro scolded.

"Oh, it's nice to see you here early, dear," Sukuyo gleamed as she brought another batch of croquettes to the dinner table. "Did another patient die of blood loss?" she asked with a radiant smile.

"No, no, no," Bazaro replied. "Shiro and I kept up fort seeing if those misfits would come back or not. Then I found this one scrounging through our bank." He shot an accusative glare at Mataro who was about done eating Sukuyo's croquettes. "We had about 3-4 patients before I had to bring our son back here."

"Is that so?" Nui interrupted.

"Hm mhm," Bazaro responded. "If you ever get into a scrape, make sure to visit our clinic. We treat you with the utmost care!"

"If by utmost care," Mataro cut in, "You mean having killed more people than saved, then yeah. We totally-" Bazaro delivered another karate chop to Mataro's head. "Ow!"

Throughout the dinner table, arguments and stories were passed on between the Mankanshoku family with unbelievable energy. Nui sat there and observed the family with fascination and, in some instances, envy.

For a moment, Nui could sense Bazaro giving her an uneasy look. "Something the matter?" she asked the man with a confused smile. The entire family stopped what they were doing to look at Bazaro who had been unusually grim.

"No, it's nothing!" he laughed while scratching his head. He immediately returned to his silly mannerisms. The rest of the Mankanshokus saw this and returned back to actively arguing and telling stories about life and school.

As the chaos ensued, Nui began to wonder what her "cousin" was doing right about now.

* * *

Kumagawa sat at his floor-table, reading the documents that Mikisugi-sensei had given him. It seemed what Shinjiro-kun had told him about earlier was not entirely fantasy. _Life-fibers..._

**Earlier:**

Kumagawa had seen Shinjiro sitting on the couch in the Student Council Room just like the first time he had met him. Shinjiro was reading the manga Kumagawa had kept in a secret compartment in his desk drawer.

"Oh, hello Kumagawa!" Shinjiro placed the manga down on the coffee table. Unlike before, Shinjro had been carrying a digital camera around his neck by a strap. He looked like a real reporter now.

"[Did you join the Newspaper club here, Shinjiro-kun?]" Kumagawa asked. Shinjiro stood up and took a picture of the other boy. When the photo rendered on the screen, Shinjiro could see Kumagawa striking a pose, similar to one in the manga he was just reading.

"[Say, 'Student Council President Kumagawa Misogi promises to protect the school with all his heart,' in the headlines.]" Kumagawa stopped his posing.

"Sure," Shinjiro replied. The bell rang, signaling the start of class.

"[Damn, I got to get to English class now,]" Kumagawa rubbed his head and sighed. "[You think someone like the President of the Student Council would be exempt from class?]"

As Kumagawa and Shinjiro walked through the hall, Shinjiro decided to strike up a conversation to pass the time. "I still don't know how you were able to beat Satsuki's minions with such ease."

"[What's there to know?]" Kumagawa perched his hands on his head. "[They attacked me, and I beat them up. It's not my fault.]"

"Yeah, but how did you beat them. With their Goku uniforms, not even the strongest in my previous school could take them out."

"[Goku uniforms?]" Kumagawa turned around to face Shinjiro. He put his hand on his chin and gave an inquisitive look at the saying of those words.

"You mean, you don't know?" Shinjiro could not believe him. "It's those things that Satsuki's elite four wear. Gamagori, Jakuzure, Inumuta, and Sangeyama each wear their own Goku uniforms, which augment their strength ten-fold. The higher the stars, the higher the strength. Three-stars like those four students can even transform."

"[Ah ha!]" Kumagawa slammed his fist into his palm. "[That explains those transformations I saw back then. Man, that was so cool!]"

"Yeah. Satsuki Kiryuin is the only one in that group who doesn't wear a Goku uniform. But that's only because she's strong enough to fight on even level with a three-star. You shouldn't have been able to defeat them without a Goku uniform of your own."

"[Strong, huh... When it comes to strength, I'm not that really good with stuff like that...]"

"[As for 'defeating' them, I don't consider what I did to them as a win. Every living thing has a weakness. I know this because I'm the weakest living being in the world.]"

"[It was their arrogance and complacency in their own strength that ended up dis-servicing them. It created a blind spot which prevented them from seeing things for the way they really were. I merely took advantage of that blind spot and, in the end, I lost to their weakness.]"

When Kumagawa had finished his rant, Shinjiro was gazing at him with confusion. _What does he mean "lost"? _

"Um, that's pretty confusing, Kumagawa-san. I don't think I've ever seen another human that could 'lose' to someone with life-fibers."

"[Life-fibers?]" Kumagawa stopped again and shot Shinjiro the same confused look.

"It's the main ingredient in the Goku uniform that gives it its power. The one-stars are comprised of 10% Life-fibers. The two-stars have 20% Life-fibers. And the Three-star Goku uniform is made up of 30% Life-fibers. The more Life-fibers, the stronger the uniform, but the harder it is for normal people to wear."

"[Life-fibers, huh...]" Kumagawa turned around and became unusually stern. "[I wonder if Life-fibers are something that could defeat Anshin'in-san...]"

Shinjiro saw that, for the first time, since meeting the boy, Kumagawa had a serious frown on his face. He wondered who this Anshin'in-san was that Kumagawa would wipe away his normally cheerful smile at the saying of that name. "Who's this Anshin'in-san?" he asked.

"[It's more a matter of whatever Anshin'in-san is than who she is.]"

Shinjiro scratched his head at such a cryptic answer.

"[We're here.]" Shinjiro and Kumagawa stood outside the door of class 3-B. By the looks of it, it seemed that class had already started...

**Inside the class:**

"Okay, so first we have to take the suffix and-" The teacher was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. "Late again, eh, Kumagawa-kun."

"[Ah ha ha]" the Minus laughed awkwardly. "[You know how it is...]" he said, scratching his head.

"Yes..." the teacher sighed. When he turned his head to look back at the class, he could see a certain female high-school student snoozing pleasantly in her desk.

"Hold on for a second..." He grabbed a textbook from behind his desk, and snuck towards the unsuspecting female student, shushing students along the way.

The female student woke up in a fit of shock at the sound of a textbook slamming on her desk. "Wah! Mercury! No, two divided by two equals four. No, uhm, the capital of Washington is peanut butter!" The students started laughing.

"Miss Mankanshoku," the teacher chided. "Please do not fall asleep in my class again."

Mako saw the teacher facepalming and heard the student's laughter. "Yes, sensei," she blushed in embarrassment.

"Right-o," the teacher said in perfect english. He turned around to see Kumagawa still standing there. "Hey, Kumagawa. Where's your friend?" the teacher asked.

When Kumagawa turned around, he could no longer see Shinjiro behind him...

* * *

**Present: **

It had been a particularly busy day for Satsuki Kiryuin. After having to miss class to visit her mother again and actively avoiding the Grand Couturier while at her stay at the Kiryuin manor, all she could think of was going back to her 10-story loft in Honnoji to relax. She stared out of the window of her limousine to see that night had already hit upon Honnou town.

The first time she visited Honnou town: the slums, the low-rate school, the particularly grey skyline, she thought she was going to hate living here. But now, not so much. She didn't want to admit it, but the place had grown on her. Not just the whole town and school itself. The energetic residents who lived here (who, earlier, she had referred to as commoners) made an impression on her which she didn't think possible. Their freedom and willingness to persevere through life, despite what hardships may come, was outright astonishing.

This was the freedom that her mother, Ragyo Kiryuin, was trying to steal away from the world. As for Kumagawa... Satsuki bit her lip at the thought of that man. She had no idea what Kumagawa's end game was. He was neither good nor bad for Honnouji Academy or humanity as a whole. But that uneasy feeling she felt emanating from him. Not to say, that godly skill of his that could erase reality. She just didn't like it.

"Something wrong, mi'lady?" Satsuki turned her head to meet that of an aged, average-looking butler sitting next to her.

"It is nothing, Soroi," she answered coolly. "I am just in deep thought."

Soroi bent his head in confusion. "If there's anything you need to tell me, just say so."

Satsuki smirked at her butler's generosity. "Thank you, Soroi." The limousine stopped at a 10-story penthouse. "This is the place."

Mitsuzō Soroi and Satsuki got out of the limousine. As they stood there, the car drove off, leaving the two at the behest of Satsuki's abode.

"So this is where I'll be staying for the next few months. I'd better go make the necessary accommodations," the butler observed.

Satsuki walked ahead of Soroi. He soon followed.

As Soroi walked through the endless halls, he could feel a faint killing intent approaching from around the corner. "Lady Satsuki," the butler said. "I don't mean any insult, but these halls are very confusing. I swear, we just passed that same flower pot."

Satsuki could sense the panic in Soroi's voice. He had always been like that. Everyone, including her mother, had taken Soroi for granted, so they never noticed the special skill he held in being able to sense killing intent.

"Sanageyama." Satsuki turned to face the next corner. Out came a boy with a kendo blade slumped on his shoulder and a hand in his pocket. Soroi jumped in surprise.

"Heh heh heh," the boy stiffly laughed. "Sorry if I scared you. We've been keeping the place secure ever since the Lady left. I guess I became a little too paranoid."

"I see..." Soroi had calmed down and returned to his composed state. Uzu turned his head to meet Satsuki's.

"Back from your trip I see," Uzu greeted.

"I would hardly call it a trip," Satsuki replied. The trio walked through the hall until they reached an elevator.

"So, he's the guy you went back at that place to get?" Uzu asked Satsuki as they rode the elevator to the top floor.

"We are settling here, so I thought it would be appropriate to have some familiar company." She turned around to see Soroi tilting his head aimlessly (motion sickness).

"Uh huh," Uzu said.

"Mi'lady." Soroi broke out of his trance. "You wouldn't have happened to have seen my nephew Shiro around. He goes to Honnoji as well."

"Shiro?" Satsuki didn't think that her childhood friend, other than Jakuzure, would have attended the same high school. "No, I have not. I assumed that he would be in the sewing club or something like that."

Soroi rubbed his head. "Actually, the last time I talked to him, he said he was doing some back-alley clinic work at the Honnou slums. Something about being into a, pardon my language, 'fake debt with an annoying fatass of a doctor', or something along those lines."

The elevator opened up to a dark room. In two different corners, there was a tealish-haired man messing around with various computers, and in the other, a pink-haired girl sat on a beanie beg accompanied with several stuffed animals.

"It appears the Lady is back from her visit," Inumuta said as he rose from his chair. Crows feet, from monitoring the security cameras, were visible along his eyes. He saw Sanageyama, Satsuki, and some other guy. "Who's tha-"

Nonon immediately answered. "Soroi!" She got up from her seat to get a better look at the abashed butler.

"It's good to see you again after such a long time, Lady Jakuzure," he bowed.

"Soroi makes some of the best tea, Doggy. It will be good to have someone with class other than me and Lady Satsuki to talk to."

Satsuki walked around to see Gamagori nowhere in sight. "Where's Gamagori-kun," she asked as she took a seat in her throne. Soroi immediately started pouring her tea.

"By the looks of it," Inumuta sighed. "He's currently reprimanding a student outside the gates." Inumuta pointed the monitor towards Satsuki and the others. _Speak of the devil... _Satsuki thought.

"Shiro-kun!" Soroi yelled out. He noticed that he had overfilled Satsuki's teacup. "My apologies, Miss."

"It's nothing," Satsuki replied as she took a sip of Soroi's delicious tea. "Tell Gamagori to send him over here."

* * *

**Meanwhile, back at Hakoniwa:**

Night time had already hit Honnoji academy. Ryuko wondered what she was doing, crawling through all these bushes and trees. Her legs have healed up nicely, making it easier for her to move. _I suppose I have this doctor to thank for that _she thought. But still, she was pretty sure she didn't suffer any severe damage along her chest. She even saw some Kanji on the bandages. It said, 'Nice tits.'

"Tch," Ryuko sounded at the memory of that.

**Earlier:**

Hansode fell on the ground laughing while Ryuko stomped around destroying everything in sight.

"Fucking asshole," she yelled. Now, she could never get married.

Hansode wiped away her tears to look at a Ryuko immediately taking off her chest bandages. "Don't look," she snarled. Hansode obeyed and turned around, only taking a few quick peeks.

It looked like the marker had bled through the bandages. "I hope it isn't permanent," she said.

"Can I look now?" Hansode asked.

Ryuko saw her clothes in the guitar case along with her scissor blade. "Yeah," she answered as she put the shirt on. Hansode turned around to see a blushing Ryuko putting on her skirt.

"Maguro-sensei would be the one behind that."

**Present:**

Ryuko and Hansode crawled through the thick underbrush. She could barely see the girl's tiny figure from all the leaves and darkness. "Hansode, are you here?"

"Boo!" Hansode appeared from behind Ryuko.

"Gah!" she jumped in shock. Hansode couldn't stop laughing.

"For a dangerous delinquent, you scare pretty easily, Ryuko-chan."

Ryuko sighed and facepalmed at seeing that it was just Hansode.

When they left the underbrush, their arrival was met with the sight of a large abandoned school building. Its silhouette was made ten times more imposing by the moon-light reflecting it's shadow along the surface.

"So this is the place," Ryuko announced. She slumped her scissor blade on her shoulder, and unflinchingly moved towards the building. Hansode soon followed.

"So, give me some more information on this Kurokami Maguro guy," Ryuko said as they moved through the eerily empty hallways.

"Uhm, well." Hansode shook with fear, having lost her earlier bravado. "Eeeep," she yelled at a sound from around the corner.

Ryuko turned aiming her scissor blade at the shadow. "Come out now!" she demanded. The shadow immediately ran towards her.

"Aaahh!" they both screamed in terror. The screaming was replaced with sighs (of both relief and embarrassment) when they saw it was just a stray cat.

"That scared the living crap out of me," Ryuko sighed. She turned to Hansode who was quivering with fear. "What's wrong?" she grinned. "Don't tell me you're scared?"

"I-I'm not."

Ryuko grinned at the sight of the normally calm Hansode being afraid. "Aaah," she screamed again, this time latching onto Ryuko. It was the same cat. It gazed at the two and immediately began moving down the hallway.

"Uh... I think it wants us to follow it," Ryuko said as she dropped the shaking Hansode back to the floor. She couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. Sure, in the few animes she's watched, something like a sentient cat motioning for the protagonists to follow him, was normal. But this was the real world, and such a thing would be ridiculous.

"Well, we should follow it." Hansode had returned to her normally bubbly behavior.

As they followed the black cat through the hallways, Hansode began to answer Ryuko's question from earlier. "It's not easy to describe Maguro. He has roots all over the place. First, let me begin with the Kurokami clan."

Hansode wagged her finger like she was giving a lecture. Ryuko took this as a sign that this was going to be a long speech. "The Kurokami clan is an old family said to be thousands of years old. They had political power throughout Japan for all those years, but its only been about four years that they started gaining economic power as well. Maguro could be thanked for that."

"The Kurokami conglomerate as it has been called offers services and products ranging from normal to particularly bizarre. At the head rests Maguro Kurokami who's sort of the head accountant of the group. His analytic skills have been said to be on par with that of a psychic. In fact, when Maguro treated you, he had absolutely no education in medical procedure whatsoever."

"What?" Ryuko sounded in shock.

"All he had to do was read a book on nursing, and immediately, he nursed you back to health like he's been doing it for years. That's his abnormality Analysis. He can learn new things just by looking over them for a few seconds."

"That's seriously bizarre," Ryuko sighed. "And you're telling me someone that amazing lives here."

"Mhm hm," Hansode nodded. "He used to be a student at the school, but something made him decide to abandon all civilization upon graduation and live the rest of his days here."

Ryuko frowned. "I don't care about his abnormality or whatever. The fact that he wasn't even a trained doctor makes me want to kick his ass even harder."

The cat stopped in its tracks. In front of it stood a regular looking door.

"This must be the place," Hansode observed. Ryuko walked ahead of her. "Wait, Ryuko-"

She kicked down the door. "Okay, time to learn if perverts can-"

The entire room was completely different from the environment they were in before. The whole place was fully lit. Pictures of some girl Ryuko had never seen before were plastered all over the pink walls. But wait, there was more. Bobbleheads and tea sets depicting that same girl stood on the shelves. There were even plushies of this blue-haired woman laying all over the place. The entire room screamed "creepy pervert".

"Fly..." Ryuko edged herself nearer. The whole room was completely unbelievable. When she stopped gazing around the absurd living space, she could spot a figure standing in the center. The figure had long blue wavy hair. He wore a red shirt with sand colored jeans and a stylish belt. His eyes were colored red, and a confident grin was stuck to his face.

The figure turned to her and smiled. "Hello, my lovelies~!" the man loudly and cheerfully greeted. Ryuko jumped back in disgust.

"Are you the guy responsible for this?" Ryuko pulled out the bandages that had been previously taped to her chest. He put his hand on his chin and gave her a sleazy look.

"Hmmmm... Maybe."

Ryuko immediately threw the bandages at his face, blocking his vision. "You bastard," she yelled as she took her scissor blade out. She jumped at him at full speed, ready to cut him down. Before she could cut him, however, he had seemingly disappeared from his location. He then reappeared behind Ryuko, who found herself landing at a completely empty spot, and instantly began groping her chest.

"Oh, yeah, these are nice," the man commented as Ryuko tried to shake him off (to no avail). "Reminds me of Meda-nee."

"Gyaaah!" Ryuko screamed in aversion. She took the man by the shirt and threw him at the wall hard enough to shake the whole room. Ryuko grabbed her chest and pointed the scissor-blade menacingly at the perverted bastard.

"Nice throw!" he exclaimed as he got up, dusting off his clothes. "That also reminds me Meda-nee." He prompted his hand up for a handshake. "Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot. I invited you here to help, not to fight." He reared towards Ryuko with a confident grin. "Kurokami Maguro at your service."

"You fucking bastard!" Ryuko growled. Maguro sighed and put his hand down.

"Ryuko, was it?" he asked. "Your friend told me all about you. I have to say, your combat prowess are truly extraordinary. But your technique and timing could use a bit more work."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ryuko immediately jumped at Maguro with her scissor sword in hand.

"It means-" Maguro was effortlessly dodging Ryuko's attacks, "That I can read your moves like a book." He delivered a kick that pushed Ryuko back a few steps. Maguro shrugged his shoulders. "While your strength is something to behold, your attacks are just way too predictable. You can't at all allocate your strength efficiently."

Ryuko attacked him again. And yet again, he was dodging all the attacks easily. Tiring of this dance, Ryuko quickly delivered a chop towards Maguro's head (a move that would certainly have been fatal). However, he dodged the attack as well. Although, this time he was standing perfectly balanced on Ryuko's sword.

"What th-" Before she could finish, Maguro delivered a weak kick to Ryuko's jaw. Surprisingly, that single weak kick was enough to knock her off her balance. "Ooof," Ryuko sounded as she landed on the ground.

"It's better to be weak and unpredictable," Maguro landed on the floor in front of her, "Then to be strong and have easily readable attacks."

"Stop fighting you two!" Hansode had appeared between the two. "I didn't just bring you here so you could have revenge, Ryuko." She looked at Maguro. "And you!"

"And me!" Magaro smiled stiffly.

"Do you have to grope every single girl that comes in here?" she chided.

"Stay out of this, Hansode," Ryuko was picking herself upwards with the scissor blade acting like a crutch. "This is between me and that pervert."

"That's what I'm trying to say." Hansode put her hand on her chest. "I'm the one who bandaged your valuables and wrote 'Nice tits'."

"What?" Ryuko was confused by this sudden revelation. Hansode continued.

"I know, I know," she exclaimed. "I just couldn't help but take a peek while you were knocked out. Maguro-sensei told me not to bother the patient, and I knew you wouldn't like someone looking at your giant melons, so I felt a little guilty after looking. So I decided to take a marker and compliment you on your huge cocoanuts as an apology for looking at you giant grapefruits. But I knew you would get angry if I just wrote on your humongous hooters, so I got some bandages around and wrote on them instead!"

By the time Hansode was finished, she had been breathless. Ryuko just stood there with a blank look, completely lost for words. Maguro decided it would be best for him to break the awkward silence.

"Well, then-"

"Eh, EH!" Ryuko interrupted as she snapped her sights on Hansode and then at Maguro. "I'm so sorry," she immediately bowed down to Maguro. "Wait!" she reared her scissor blade at Maguro again. The man put his hands up and laughed awkwardly.

"You may have not been the one responsible for writing on 'them', but you did something worse by touching 'them' when I first entered."

"Ah ha ha." He scratched his head. "Yeah, sorry about that." Ryuko instantly set her sights on Hansode.

"And you!" Ryuko pointed her sword at Hansode.

"Me." Hansode pointed her finger to herself and innocently tilted head.

"Don't think you're exempt from this just because your a girl. I don't like people, male or female, taking peeks at my naked chest. I know that there are girls who freely bare it all to other girls just because they're girls, but I'm not one of them!"

"Sorry." Hansode backed off with her hands propped up in surrender. Ryuko laid down her scissor blade and calmed down.

"Well, now that that conundrum is settled. I think we should re-introduce ourselves properly." Maguro prompted his hand again for a handshake. "My name's Kurokami Maguro. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Ryuko decided it would be better to start over. She still felt uneasy being near the jerkwad, but that skill he displayed earlier could come in use. "Matoi Ryuko," she shook hands with the man, making sure to keep her eyes and thoughts away from the image of the room they were in. For all she knew, it could've been a shrine dedicated to some girl Maguro had a crush on in high school or something like that.

Magaro turned around to look at the rest of the room with affirmed delight. "Are you curious about my collection?"

_No _Ryuko thought. The less she knew, the better.

"This is a shrine dedicated," he turned to Ryuko with blood dripping out of his nose. "To my sister," he said softly.

"YOUR SISTER!" Ryuko's jaw had hit the floor. When she looked at the pictures around the room a second time, she could definitely see a resemblance between Maguro and the girl: most notably, the red eyes and blue hair.

"Yes, my sister. I love my sister so very much, that I can't help myself sometimes and have to spread my love to everywhere and to everyone." He looked at Matoi with a happy gaze. "You reminded me a bit about Medaka-chan, so I couldn't help but grab your breasts."

Ryuko instantly delivered a punch to Maguro's face.

"Hey, hey, hey, didn't you say you were going to play nice," Maguro cheerfully said as he got up from the floor.

"I said nothing like that," Ryuko responded. "You said something about inviting me here. What's that about?"

"That would be Hansode." Maguro shot a look at Hansode who was playing around with his sister complex merchandise. "I told her to bring you here. I saw you got into a bout with Unzen and lost pretty badly."

Ryuko clenched her teeth at the saying of that name. "Hmph," she answered. "I didn't lose to Unzen. That coward ran away before I could fight him more seriously. And then I had to fight his cronies."

"I see," Magaro said as he scratched his chin. "Well, it doesn't change the fact that you had amassed some serious injuries. Injuries, I say, that you would have been able to avoid had you just trained a little."

"What's your endgame?" Ryuko glared.

Magaro responded. "I hate Unzen's and the Enforcers totalitarian rule over this school as much as the next guy. I want nothing more than to see them knocked down a peg, but I need a student of considerable ability to do it for me. Despite what you saw, I'm not so very good with confrontations, especially if I have to fight multiple opponents at once."

Ryuko eased her glare. "And I'm that student with considerable ability? What are you proposing? Spill out already!"

"Training, two times a week, after school. You come here, and I hone your skills to perfection."

As much as Ryuko wanted to deny him, she knew, by the way he had dodged all of her attacks, that this training would've been beneficial for her. And perhaps she could use her new skills to catch her father's killer off guard.

"Okay," she said. "I'll come here twice a week, after school, to work on my attacks." As she left for the exit, Hansode immediately appeared in front of her, blocking her way.

"One more thing," Magaro announced. Hansode smiled at Ryuko with her arms outstretched.

"You see," she said. Magaro cut in. "I looked into your files and saw that you had no place to live." Shiranui continued. "I thought, why should I let my friend sleep in a dumpster all by herself, where some strangers could take advantage of her." Magaro cut back in. "So I thought about it, and I said..." They both completed the sentence. "Why not live here?"

"Eh?" Ryuko sounded in confusion. She looked around the room again. _Live...here..._

Maguro stretched his arms out in a cheerful manner. "Come and live here with me, Ryuko-chan!"

"No! No way! Not in your or my life!" she yelled as she push Hansode out of the way. "I'd rather live in the woods than have to spend my days with this creep!" She was immediately intercepted by Hansode who pushed her back in.

"But Ryuko-chan," she cried. "You need a place to live. You can't just go throughout your life without a home!" Ryuko pushed harder at Hansode's unusual strength.

"She's right." Magaro appeared from behind and grabbed Ryuko from the waist. The way he emerged from that room, even though it was fully lit, was like a monster from a horror movie she witnessed as a kid. "You and I can share everything, from food to toothpaste to a bath." Ryuko was now trying her hardest to push away from the two. "It's okay," Magaro explained. "Other than me, the only other person that comes here is my father. And that's usually to tell me to get a job, and then kick my ass afterwards. But recently, he's been meeting with the executive of some other conglomerate, so my daily beatdowns have stopped. Life should be peaceful for a few weeks when it's just the two of us living here." Ryuko tried her hardest not to vomit.

"To me," Magaro continued, "You're already like a sister." Images of the room started flashing through Ryuko's mind at the saying of that word. Suddenly, her strength augmented itself three-fold, and she was able to break free from Magaro's grasp.

With Hansode still holding on, Ryuko ran for her dear life, away from that sister-loving creep. "See you tomorrow after school!" Magaro yelled as the Ryuko turned around the next corner.

* * *

**Meanwhile, back at the Honnou penthouse: **

"Iori-kun!" Nonon emerged from the cushion to greet her and Satsuki's childhood friend. While Nonon was jubilant, Shiro was not so happy. He was being carried around by Gamagori by his collar.

"It's good to see you, Nonon," he said with a serious frown. "Could you possibly get him to let me down." He noticed Satsuki sitting on a throne while his uncle served her tea.

"Gamagori, let him down," she ordered.

"Yes, Satsuki-sama." Just like she ordered, Gamagori carefully placed Shiro back on the ground.

"Thank you," Shiro said with a stern gaze at Gamagori. Gamagori returned the gaze with an even deeper frown before walking off to the side.

"You will have to forgive my Elite Four for their paranoia," Satsuki began. "They've been in charge of security for this whole building since I've been absent."

"Inumuta-kun," she called out.

"Twenty potential burglars neutralized since your last visit, ma'am," Hoka responded.

"Hmph." A small smile graced Satsuki's lips as she took another sip of her tea. She turned her head to Shiro, who was still standing where he was dropped, and said, "I do not mean any hostilities. In fact, we're welcome to as much help as we can get, if that's why you came here. But I'm still curious as to how you found out about us in the first place."

Shiro cleared his throat and began to speak. "That is indeed why I came here. As for how I found out, it was actually chance that I happened to go to this same academy. I intended to join the sewing club but got swindled by some back-alley doctor into becoming his assistant. When I saw the construction crews for this place, there wasn't any doubt that a Kiryuin was going to come here. Once I heard the rumors of a supposedly rich girl with black wavy hair being accompanied by four peculiar students, I knew it had to be you."

Once he was done, the whole room became calm again. Sanageyama put an arm around Shiro's shoulder. "Well you seem like someone I can trust. Glad to have you aboard, Iori-kun."

"Hmph," Satsuki grunted. "He's more than someone you can trust. He's the one responsible for making our uniforms."

All the Elite Four, except for Nonon, collectively jumped in shock. "Hmph, figures," Nonon cut in.

The rest of the Elite Four picked themselves up and sighed. "I'm so sorry, man," Uzu approached. "I honestly didn't know."

"Yeah, you wouldn't know, Monkey," Nonon cut in again. Uzu ignored her.

"Speaking of that," Shiro began. "I didn't come here empty handed." Reaching into his lab coat, he could feel a discerning glare from Gamagori who was sitting in a chair with his arms crossed. It seemed that he didn't trust him yet.

Shiro pulled out what looked like folded clothes. When Shiro unfolded the shirt, it was completely white, with golden colored pockets, as well as quarters of a skirt attached to the bottom. The pants were also white, but had high-heeled boots attached at the end. Finally, completed with the whole design, was a sheath for Satsuki's blade, Bazukan. The whole outfit unbelievably shined throughout the room.

Shiro folded the clothes in his hands and kneeled down on one knee. "Someone like you should not have to go around in that third-rate school uniform. Of course, I didn't have any life-fibers on hand when I made this, so this isn't an Ultima."

"Thank you, Iori," Satsuki said as she approached him. She carefully placed the robe into her arms. "All men, leave!"

Everyone got the message and immediately left. When they entered back, they were met with a dazzling light. A woman's voice sounded from the throne. "I love it, Iori-kun."

For the first time in a while, a smile had adorned Shiro's lips. "I knew you would."

* * *

**In the Halls of Honnoji Academy:**

Night patrol wasn't particularly a favorite activity of Aikuro Mikisugi. However, it wasn't entirely without it's benefits. Patrolling the halls of Honnoji Academy at night allowed him two things: privacy (unless someone broke in like that last time with the Student Council room) and peace of mind. It also was the only time he could talk on his cell phone without worrying about anyone listening in. After all, he, a Nudist Beach operative, had to be ever vigilant in case one of Ragyo's agents was spying on him.

As he strode through empty halls, his cell phone began to ring. When he looked at the number on the screen, he immediately knew who it was. "Aikuro-sensei here," he said in his usual meek voice (just in case it wasn't the person he thought it was). When the voice sounded on the other line, he knew his suspicions were on mark.

"Hello, Aikuro..." a gruff voice answered.

"Kinagase..." Aikuro responded with a serious tone. "And to what may I owe the pleasure?"

"Stuff it," the voice answered. "You and I both know what this is about."

Aikuro's smile disappeared and was replaced with a sullen expression. The voice continued.

"How could you bring a civilian into all of this?"

"We're all civilians at one point in our lives," Aikuro replied sagely.

"You know that's not what I mean," the voice replied. "Judging from these reports, this Student Council President of yours has no fighting capabilities whatsoever. He didn't even try to hit you when you blocked his exit."

"He was able to live after jumping out of a three-story window," Aikuro countered. "Plus, he was able to single-handedly defeat Satsuki's elite four."

"I'm having trouble believing both of those stories. First off, anyone would obviously die from that height. He's the Student Council President. He most likely had a secret lift somewhere to rescue him. Did you see his corpse?"

Aikuro scratched his head. "No, I didn't. I got side-tracked into substituting for the physics teacher." _Even though I know nothing about physics..._

"That's what I thought," the voice replied with a hint of satisfaction. "Secondly, he's the President. He has the power to manipulate rumors and headlines to fit his image. There's no doubt that those rumors of him defeating the Elite Four are just that; rumors."

"Now why don't you," the voice continued, "Just spill all our secrets to someone who could at any point get kidnapped by the Kiryuins and be interrogated into telling them where our base of operations is."

"*sigh* I know, I know. Actually, when you put it like that, now I want him to join up even more."

"Did you even listen to what I was saying?" the voice angrily sounded. Aikuro stopped for a moment. He swore he could hear a sound coming from somewhere. "What's wrong?"

"Shhhhh..." he said. He reared his flashlight at a shadowy object. He immediately let out a long sigh of relief at seeing that it was just a cat. He continued.

"Well, don't you think someone that clever and meticulous would make a great addition to Nudist Beach? Secret Lifts? Manipulating Rumors? Sign him up!"

"Grrr," the voice growled. "You do have a point. But I still don't like it."

"Also," Aikuro continued. "I've tried looking him up everywhere, but I couldn't find a single bit of information. Nothing on his parents, birthday, previous schools. Nothing at all. He's a complete enigma. When you think about, that's actually pretty impressive."

"Auh!" the voice answered back. "Did you say no records whatsoever?"

"What's wrong?" Aikuro asked with a hint of worry.

"I think you just messed up," the voice replied in a tone of shame.

"What do you mean?"

"No information on him whatsoever." Aikuro could sense Kinagase facepalming on the other line. "Who else, other than us, has the power to erase someone's existence from every data server imaginable."

"You don't mean-!" Aikuro's heart was pumping faster. Kinagase continued.

"And if you were right about this supposed immorality of his, then what else other than Life-fibers could be responsible for that." Aikuro facepalmed by the end of that sentence. _How could I have been so stupid? _he thought to himself.

"I think you just cut the middleman," the voice concluded, "By telling a REVOCS agent all of our secrets."

* * *

Somewhere on an unmarked road, a man sat on his motor bike, smoking a cigarette. He could hear Aikuro beating himself up over the phone. "Looks like I'm going to have to take care of this Kumagawa Misogi character for you."

"Now, don't be too hasty," Aikuro replied back. "We still can't be too sure. Besides, if he is what you say he is, then that would make him on par with the other Life-fiber infused human we know."

"You mean the Grand Couturier?" Kinagase responded back. An angry grin adorned Kinagase's face as he leaned over. "I still remember what that bitch did to our comrades back in Kuwait."

"That's why I'm saying we should be careful."

"Better to take him off guard, actually, then wait for him to report to Ragyo," he argued.

"We still can't be too sure," Aikuro replied.

Kinagase took another puff of his cigarette before dropping it on the ground and stomping it. "Whether he is or isn't, it's better to be safe than sorry. If he is, that's one less piece of clothing in this world. And if he isn't." Kinagase revved up his bike. "Well, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Better to kill a civilian, then to let him kill all of us."

"There's no convincing you, huh?" Aikuro responded.

"We'll discuss this later." Kinagase hung up the phone and rode off. _Kumagawa Misogi, huh... Let's see just how good you really are in a fight._

* * *

"[Gyah!]" Kumagawa quickly rose out of his futon. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 2:40 a.m. "[Just a nightmare...]" he said to himself. He hadn't had a nightmare in ages. The strangest thing was, he couldn't exactly remember what it was about. One moment, he had been talking with Ashin'in-san (an activity which had made him hate sleeping) and the next, a strange darkness began to envelop both of them.

For the first time since meeting Ashin'in-san, Kumagawa saw a worried look stuck to her face. Before he could get any closer, a wall of darkness had separated both of them. Kumagawa was flung backwards onto the ground. The classroom began to become distorted as darkness covered it entirely. Outside the windows, he could see strange beasts staring back at him, with unblinking eyes. The entire experience was unsettling.

Then, out of the walls, came a mysterious cloaked figure. Under the hood, Kumagawa could see nothing but glowing yellow eyes and a disturbing smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you," the figure greeted. Kumagawa couldn't speak. The words, "[Is this a prank, Ashin'in-san?]" just wouldn't come out.

"Sorry if I had to separate you two," the figure grinned. "I wanted to talk specifically to you. And no, this isn't a prank by Ashin'in-san."

Kumagawa's eyes lighted up in shock. _[He can read my thoughts?]_

"Yes, I can read your thoughts," the figure grinned. "Don't worry. I'm on your side." The figure turned towards the windows. "A man by the name of Kinagase Tsumugu thinks you're a spy for REVOCS. Expect to be ambushed tomorrow."

Before Kumagawa could think up anything else, the figure instantly turned to him and pierced his heart. "We'll meet again in the 'real' world once you got all the annoyances out of the way."

And like that, Kumagawa woke up. The memory of that dream made him breath harder than the dream itself. After a few more minutes, he crept back into his futon and slowly closed his eyes. He had no idea what his nightmare was about, but years of experience with the abnormal have taught him to look at things as more than just coincidence. As sleep began to take over him again, Kumagawa's memory came back to those yellow glowing eyes. _[Meet again in the 'real' world...]_

**End of Chapter**


	5. Chapter 5: Roundabout

_ 'Okay, before I roll out the disclaimer, I want to make two things perfectly clear. One, I respect all your reviews equally, even the blatant troll reviews (I'm a hardcore masochist). But please, when you write a review, if it contains any OBVIOUS spoilers, PM me instead. The last thing I need is some innocent viewer scrolling up the reviews and having their eyes instantly burnt to a crisp by the sickening sight of an obvious spoiler. __Reviews that provide vague hints as to what happened in the story are okay. _Two, from now on, any character in the turning point of a battle will say "Nani!" or "Eh!" instead of "What!". I just like the sound of those better. Although, this won't be the case entirely. I still might stick a few "What!"'s in the story every now and then. Okay, on to the disclaimer!'

_'Super duper disclaimer time!' *I say as I point my finger in a cartoonish fashion*. Since you're going to die soon, Kinagase, would you like the honor?'_

_Tsumugu: "Sure. Kill la Kill and Medaka Box are not owned by the author. They are property of Studio Trigger and Nisio Isin, respecti- Wait! What was that about me dying!?"_

_'Ah ha ha. Shall we begin...'_

_Tsumugu: "Wait, I'm not done talking with you-"_

* * *

**Chapter 5: Roundabout**

Ragyo sat in her office with a contemplative expression. It wasn't unusual for Nui and Rei to see Ragyo acting like this. Behind the woman's sturdy and confident exterior, lay a paranoia that could destroy minds if left unchecked. Behind every corner and shadow, she felt the fear of being discovered. Not necessarily being discovered (as she could simply kill every single witness and then bribe the UN into letting her go (if she doesn't just kill them as well)). No. It was the fear of someone showing up to destroy COVERS and undo years of work and progress. Someone she couldn't defeat.

Of course, there was no one like that. The Primordial Life-Fiber was practically a God. No one, especially a measly human, could even hope to touch it. Still, whenever she had to meet up with other people, she felt this irrational fear like she was being watched by an unseen entity. _Nonsense _she thought to herself as she regained her confident grin. Perhaps it was just her natural hatred of talking with humans that ticked her off. Yeah, that's got to be it. Still, the only people she could fully put her trust in were Nui Harime and Rei Hououmaru (her loyal subordinates).

And it's at this day, that she had to meet with some unfortunate man whose life provided a blockade to her ambitions.

"Is something wrong, Miss Kiryuin?" the man asked, puzzled at her troubled expression.

Ragyo took a deep breath. "No, it is nothing, Mr. Kurokami. We were discussing the merger with your Kurokami conglomerate, weren't we?"

A small grin appeared on Kajiki Kurokami's face. In all his years of dealing with this woman, he had never seen her flustered for even a split second. Maybe, for once, his charm had finally rubbed off on her, he thought. He had been no stranger to bigamy. Though he couldn't exactly cheat on Nashi. And the only way a Kurokami could get married is through the Black Wedding Feast. He could imagine Ragyo mercilessly slicing through her opponents to take his hand in marriage.

Kajiki stopped his line of thinking after a few seconds. Of course, he was only joking. There was no way he would even think of forming a friendship with someone as devious and monstrous as Ragyo. But he kept his smile and played ball with Ragyo's ambitions. And he felt that she was doing the same. This was simply a partnership forged out of business instead of mutual trust. Emphasis on the "was".

"Oh yes," Kajiki laughed, scratching his head. "May I have some coffee?"

Ragyo simply snapped her fingers, and, in a split-second, a maid had appeared behind Kajiki to serve him his coffee. It was mixed with cream and two teaspoons of sugar. Kajiki was afraid at how Ragyo was able to find out his favorite type of coffee so easily.

"Yes," the colorful fashionista executive smirked. "It was a merger between the Kiryuin and Kurokami conglomerates. You provide us with materials and, in return, we provide you with Life-fiber infused clothing."

Kajiki knew that he would be given the Life-fiber infused clothing instead of normal clothes. Ragyo was like that. He was not as stupid as he played to be. And he felt that she knew that as well. He had seen how the corporations, who played into her hands, soon mysteriously ended up getting absorbed into the Kiryuin conglomerate. And how the organizations that didn't were mysteriously wiped out the market. It was only a matter of time before she targeted him.

Ragyo leaned into her seat with a confident smirk. When she spoke like that, he felt like driving a screwdriver into both of his ears.

"Aaah," she soothed. "A merger between two conglomerates of the same first letter. This has to be destiny. Don't you think?"

Kajiki scratched his head, again playing the fool. "I wouldn't know about that exactly. Different cultures have different ways of sounding letters. In the ancient Rullian tribe, my last name would be pronounced Jfaki and yours would be..." He had known he was making her angry. He could see the fury festering between her smirking lips. He decided to stop before she threw the desk at him and killed him before the Grand Couturier could have a chance to do so downstairs.

"Speaking of last names, how is your son and daughter doing?" she asked. Kajiki could sense the malice in her voice but decided to answer anyway.

"Medaka is currently in middle school at her senior year," he said with an overbearing fatherly love. His mood swiftly changed when he went on about his son. "That rotten good-for-nothing is still living in an abandoned school building doing who-knows-what."

"I see," Ragyo pronounced, a tad bit stifled by the contrast in this man's mood in talking about his son and daughter.

"And how is your daughter?" he asked back.

"Satsuki? She is doing well. Well, not exactly well," she said as she put her fingers to her mouth. When she was like that, Kajiki knew that she was up to something devious. He felt pity for her daughter who had been forced into this situation by her cruel mother. "She is doing well with grades and whatnot." Ragyo put on the sad expression of a worrying mother. Kajiki knew it was fake. "But she's been having trouble with a certain boy..."

Kajiki let out a small smirk. He had to admit, this woman's acting skills were superb. There wasn't any stuttering in her voice, so he knew this 'certain boy' had to not been a lie to trip him up. But still, who was this person that he could provide trouble to a Kiryuin of all people? _Come to think of it _Kajiki thought. _My daughter had trouble with a certain boy once. _But that's all water under the bridge. That 'thing' is no longer within stabbing distance of Kajiki and his family. And if 'it' was, he wouldn't hesitate to kill it and send it back to the depths of hell from where it came. He took another sip of his perfectly brewed coffee. Still, he had to wonder who this boy was that he could bring trouble to Satsuki's, no... Ragyo's ambitions.

Holding the cup in his hands, he asked, "Just out of curiosity, I would appreciate knowing who this certain boy is. You see, I'm a loving father at heart, and I can agree with you that I don't condone bullying of any sort. I would like to know the name of the person who is currently messing with your daughter at her school."

"Kajiki..." Ragyo gleamed. This was acted however. She didn't give two damns on how her daughter's school life was. All she cared about was Satsuki doing her job right. She also sensed that Kajiki knew about that and was simply trying to guilt her. She would have to remind Nui to make the torture and deaths of his close associates ten times more painful. "I wouldn't want to get you involved, but if you must know..." What good would saying that boy's name do? She had longed to meet with him. Someone who could make a stonewall like Rei, quiver in fear, was someone that had caught her utmost intrigue. But alas, she was stuck to her duties at REVOCS. She would have to invite him over here. But enough of that. _Might as well humor him _she thought. _  
_

When she said the name "Kumagawa Misogi" to Kajiki Kurokami, the reaction she got was light years far from what she had expected. The normally confident man who was about to take another sip of his coffee, instantly dropped the cup. The cup shattered into several pieces with coffee spilling all over the ground. The waitress, who had arrived out of nowhere again, came up to clean the mess.

But this isn't what peaked Ragyo's attention the most. Kajiki's usual smirk turned into a horrified opening of his mouth. His eyes were filled with the utmost fear, as if he was remembering something too terrifying to even comprehend. When Ragyo thought about it, this was more or less the same way Rei behaved after visiting the Student Council Room.

"Kajiki," she said with hints of worry plaguing her interrogative voice.

"Aaaaahhhhhhh," the man cried like a child about to be given the needle. The very scene was parts disturbing as well as erotic to Ragyo. But nonetheless, she had to do something to calm him down. She approached him and held him in her arms. This was not out of pity or remorse. She simply didn't want a currently insane Kaijiki going around breaking her stuff.

She held a sobbing Kajiki in her arms for a few more minutes, cradling his head like an infant. She was glad she had picked up the uniform that deflected tears and snot at this time. "There, there," she said. "I'm sorry if that name spooked you." This time she had meant it.

Kajiki had calmed down. He had heard a name he had not expected to hear of ever again. The way he reacted also surprised him. When he thought about that monster Kumagawa. How he had nearly brought the world to destruction just for fun and games. Everytime he had remembered that boy's inhuman smile and his monstrous negativity, the simple memory of it was enough to scare him. But he had not expected a simple saying of the name to make him go into this type of tantrum. "I am sorry, Miss Kiryuin," he said as he wiped his eyes and nose with a tissue. They both got up and went back into their respective seats.

"About the merger-"

"I don't care about the merger anymore..." Ragyo interrupted. Kajiki had felt bothered by her sudden shift in tone. When he saw her ambitious smile, there was no doubt in his mind.

"Please don't tell me. You want to ask about 'that'." He had said the word 'that' in a way that sounded like he was about to vomit. This had only caught Ragyo's interest more. He had thought about faking his way out of it. Saying that that tantrum was simply a coincidence, and that he knew nothing about some Kumagawa person. Yeah, for all the good that would do. Ragyo could see easily through his lies if she put her effort into it. He could tell that she would want to meet him soon. He couldn't blame her. He, too, wanted to meet Kumagawa when his daughter told him about this boy who had been giving her trouble at school. He told Medaka that he would handle it, but...

He certainly did handle it. Fifty times or so before the simple act of interacting with Kumagawa took its toll on his mind. Anyway, Ragyo wants to suffer the same fate as him right now. He could see it in her eyes. She was a woman who would stop at nothing to get what she wants.

"Tell me what you know about Kumagawa." She had made sure to only say the last name. He could go crazy again at the simple saying of those words. However, Kajiki didn't even budge at the saying of "Kumagawa". It seems he had prepared this time for his traumatic memories.

"I don't know about his family, about his whereabouts or even if he was alive or not until you told me," he said with his teeth gritting.

Ragyo smirked at this man's fury at not being able to evade this conversation. She didn't know how, but the simple saying of Kumagawa's name had pushed triggers in certain people who had interacted with him in the past. Not even she or Nui could hope to have gained that kind of fear from people.

"Would you like to know where he is?" Ragyo leered.

"At Honnoji, where your daughter attends," he answered with a dejected tone. "Please pull your daughter out at once!"

Ragyo was surprised at Kajiki's sudden begging. "And why should I do that?"

"You don't know what that boy is capable of. You think you're strong? Ha, he laughs at your strength! Something as simple as being strong or rich or powerful isn't something that can destroy Kumagawa." By the time Kajiki was done with his rant, Ragyo was already far behind her desk. He had violated her space one too many times.

"Sorry," he apologized as he sat back into his chair. There's no convincing a woman like Ragyo, but he might've been able to save her daughter from meeting the fate that Medaka has unfortunately entered.

A simple "No" from Ragyo was all there needed to be to crush his hopes. "I do believe that Kumagawa is a unique person, someone to be feared however, he is not."

"Did you not listen-"

"Fool! Who do you think you are speaking to?!" Ragyo bolted back. Kajiki jumped back in shock. "In all the generations of the Kiryuin clan, dating back to Ancient Rome, there has never been a single human that could face the absolute might of the Kiryuins!" The way she said this hinted at some familial pride in her heart (if she had one that is). She calmed down and sat back in her chair with her feet planted on the desk. "Right now, my top spies are studying his movements as we speak. All I wish for is information on this Kumagawa that we do not yet know of. I'll even spare your life if you were smart enough to notice that this deal would've ended in your death either way."

Kajiki sighed. He was smart enough to figure that out. Come to think of it. Nui hasn't entered the office at all since his bawling. Usually if something crazy were to happen in a room Ragyo was in, the Grand Couturier would be the first to respond. His blood froze as a certain thought entered his head...

"And the Grand Couturier?" he asked with a hint of hope that she was simply distracted by something downstairs as she waited to slice his head up.

Ragyo gazed at him and frowned. His hope was crushed with that single gesture. "She's currently in disguise at Honnoji Academy, watching his every movement."

"You can't!" Kajiki immediately and unwisely bolted out. Ragyo passed a furious glare at Kajiki's direction. "Um, I mean that that might not be the best course of events." He had met the Grand Couturier before. It was when she was a child of about seven. She was adorable at her age, but Kajiki didn't let looks fool him. Inside her heart was a purely evil monster. One day, he had made the mistake of leaving Nui alone with his youngest and only daughter, Medaka. Nui had offered Medaka her hand to play. All he could do was watch from the window of the door that Nui had used a complex locking technique on:

* * *

It started out okay, but then devolved into some hair pulling and then something much more destructive. Medaka and Nui played a game as to who could stack the highest amount of blocks. This was a sure victory for the blonde-haired girl as she had the delicate fingers to stack a whole highscraper of blocks! When she turned around to tell Medaka that she couldn't even hope to beat her, a building of blocks that was just about ten meters higher than hers suddenly appeared. Medaka simply stood there with her hands on her hips like it had been nothing.

Nui's smile stuck to her face, but Kajiki could see the seething rage in her eyes. How dare this human girl build something higher than me! How dare she make a mockery of my nimble fingers with her dirty creation!

"Oh well," Medaka smiled innocently. "Better luck next time!" Nui wanted to crush, kill, break this human girl more than anything else now! Medaka was suddenly met with a swift punch to the face.

"Medaka-chan!" Kajiki screamed as his servants approached the door with a battering ram. The punch to the face propelled Medaka into her building, knocking all the blocks over. Nui stared at the fallen and beaten girl with a smiling gaze.

"Hm hm," she laughed in a boastful manner. "Looks like when it comes to building stuff, I reign supreme!"

"Don't make me laugh..." Medaka had gotten up. Nui was sure that she had given her a punch that could knock out an elephant. "All you did was destroy my building. That's cheating!" Medaka pointed at Nui accusatively. Nui's smile suddenly turned into a frown and then twisted back into a grin. She delivered a kick that was sure to hit Medaka's face. It didn't.

"Nani!?" Nui exclaimed as she levitated in the air for a few seconds. Medaka was above her.

"Take my kick of love." Before Nui could react, she was hit straight in the face by the inhuman strength a young Medaka possesed. The kick, instead of propelling her into the hard blocks of her building, pushed her into a nearby wall.

"But why?" she asked with the life-fibers in her body having trouble healing her wounds.

"Your building was beautiful and very well-crafted. It would be a waste to destroy it." Medaka had extended a hand to the fallen Nui. The heart-warming scene almost made Kajiki forget who he was dealing with. Nui struck Medaka's hand away with such a force as to break some of Medaka's fingers. She then began choking a helpless Medaka, her fury now evident on her face. Before Nui could crush her windpipe, the battering ram had finally gotten through the door. An army of guards had appeared to stop the blonde-haired from killing Kajiki's only daughter. Despite the guards doing their best to get Nui to let go, she simply blew them back with a few well-placed kicks (some are still in the hospital to this day). In the end, however, it was Kikaji himself who was able pry Nui's hands away from Medaka's neck (no matter how many kicks she delivered to his torso).

A crying Nui sat in a fetal position as Medaka's unconscious body lay opposite to her. "*sniff* I'm so sorry, Mr. Kurokami!" she cried with her hands holding back her tears. "It was only a game! I didn't mean for her to get hurt... I just lost control..."

Kurokami wasn't pending on believing a word she said. However, he was also a man of excessive love. He extended his hand out to pet Nui's head as a gesture of forgiveness. Before he could even touch her, she grabbed his ring finger and crushed it with her right hand. He could hear the crushing bits of his finger bones and then felt the horrible pain he hadn't felt with Nui's kicks because he was too worried about Medaka's safety at the time.

"He he," she chuckled maliciously before resuming her, now obviously fake, tears. Kurokami collapsed on his floor as he held his finger in to stop the pain.

Later that evening, when Ragyo had come to pick up Nui from her 'play-date', he overheard a conversation between the girl and her stepmother as they held hands.

"I did as you said, Maman! I scoped the whole place out for weaknesses just like you wanted."

"That's a good girl!" Ragyo responded as she petted Nui's head. Ragyo had noticed Kikaji's presence but pretended that it was nothing.

Nui continued. "It's going to be extra easy now to make Kikaji's death look like an accident!" she said nonchalantly. "Is there a problem?"

Ragyo noticed that Nui's senses weren't as sharp as they were before she visited the Kurokami manor. If they were, she would've been easily able to pick Kikaji out from the bushes. "No problem at all," Ragyo lied. She wondered what could have happened to make Nui so angry as she felt a slight bit of tension in her hands.

"That bitch..." she faintly muttered.

"What was that?" Ragyo asked, a faint worry in her tone of voice.

Nui looked at her and gleamed innocuously. "Nothing, maman!"

* * *

Kikaji knew how much of a monster Nui was. That was part of the reason he kept Ragyo at arm's distance. No matter how loyal and calm Nui appeared, she was easy to anger if out-classed. Even so, he was glad in a way that Nui had met Medaka when she did.

Whenever the Grand Couturier appeared to converse with him, and the conversation turned into subtle threats, all he had to do was bring up his daughter and Nui would back off instantly. The festering hatred he sees in her eyes was just a bonus. But now, Nui wasn't targeting him or his daughter. She was targeting someone much worse!

Ragyo noticed the quivering look in his expression. "And why is that?" she finally asked.

Kikaji didn't like to think about Kumagawa and Nui meeting. He had met both of them in his life-time, and while Kumagawa was 5 times worse to deal with than Nui, their basic behaviours were disturbingly similar. They both smiled perpetually and had zero regard for human life. Both of them had a tendency to do things that opposed the basic laws of physics. Both of them could kill a person as easily as he and Ragyo breathed.

"It's just not a good idea to let the two visit..." Kakiji sheepishly answered. Come to think of it, they were almost completely the same person. If Kakiji didn't know any better (and he did), Kumagawa and Nui could've been long-lost relatives or something.

Ragyo gave an inquisitive look at Kakiji's answer. Suddenly, a voice boomed from the call center."Miss Ragyo," a female voice said. "Are you finished with your meeting with Mr. Kurokami? You have another meeting at 10 minutes."

Noticing that this was his only chance of escape, Kakiji quickly walked towards the exit.

"Wait," Ragyo yelled out. "We're not done yet!"

Kakiji chose to ignore her. An unwise decision on most counts, but this wasn't most counts. The cards were stacked against her. She couldn't kill him because her obsession with the boy had blinded her from her original ambitions. As far as she knew, he was her only lifeline to ever understanding Kumagawa Misogi completely.

As he entered the elevator, he could see that his suspicions were on mark. She had not bothered even chasing him. She just sat her desk with little hiding her frustrated expression. As the doors closed, he began to think up something to deal with the current situation. He couldn't just sit back and let those two demons interact. Nothing good could come of it. He immediately began to recall an old friend of his who had also gone to Honnoji Academy. Someone who, like him, understood how much of a threat Kumagawa Misogi was. Perhaps he should give him a call...

* * *

Ragyo simply sat at her desk with a frustrated look on her countenance.

"Want me to take care of him," a voice said from behind. Ragyo turned around to see Shinjiro, or rather Nui, sitting pleasantly on the window sill.

"That won't be necessary," Ragyo replied with affirmed indignation. She would make sure to find out who gave her that call and strangle her to death later on.

"Miss," Rei said as she approached the two.

"What is it, Rei?" Ragyo asked with a firm hint of knowing what she was going to say.

"I mean no offense, but I must ask that you please give up on trying to meet this Kumagawa."

For a second, Ragyo ignored Rei's plea to listen to Nui. "Speaking of that, how long must I keep up with this charade?"

"For as long as it suits our purpose," Ragyo answered. She turned to Rei. "I assure you that he is nothing but a fleeting interest. If you believe that he is getting in the way of my ambitions for the Cocoon Planet, then I invite you take the reins in my place."

"Ragyo-sama," Rei replied in surprise. She knew that Ragyo was serious the moment she brought up something related to COVERS. "My apologies, ma'am." Still, she didn't like the idea of watching over Kumagawa Misogi. And the idea of him and Ragyo eventually meeting with each other troubled her to no end. She knew that Ragyo was a strong woman, but his was an existence which she couldn't even begin to logically explain. Rei had spotted Nui sitting on the window sill, cheerfully kicking her feet. A worried look began to take over Rei's image.

"For now, I still need you to follow him. Take notes on his abilities. On anything of slight interest."

"Aaaaaw," Nui whined. "I don't really see anything interesting about him. He seems pretty ordinary..."

"That's because your definition of ordinary is anything that can put a scratch on your face. Speaking of which, I just had a little conversation with our mutual friend, Kikaji Kurokami."

Nui's eyes shot with fury at the sounding of that name. She remembered his daughter. She still never got over the humility Medaka forced her to face when she was seven years old. Ragyo continued. "He knows something which he is not letting on. For now, I want him to be left alone. Judging by his behavior, he's planning something big that will affect Honnoji. We can take this to our advantage. As for his associates, hold off on their assassinations. I need you to give Kumagawa your utmost attention."

"Yes, mi'lady," Nui answered before floating away. She, like Rei, had also been slightly bothered by Ragyo's recent interest in Kumagawa Misogi. Despite what she said, she knew that Kumagawa was far from ordinary. There was no information on him whatsoever. The entirety of the REVOCS spy centers scattered throughout the world could not find more than one picture of the boy. Even she was left in the dark about Kumagawa's past, and she considered herself an expert in finding out people's secrets. And those times when he offered her his hand. Each time she shook, she felt like immediately chewing her arms off! Not that she wouldn't. She was immortal after all, so they would just grow back. But it would kind of expose her disguise if she ripped her own arms off, and immediately regenerated them. And then there was that terrifying aura she felt emanating from him whenever he so much as talked. She wasn't exactly certain about it, but something had told her that he and she were related in some way...

Ragyo and Rei watched Nui float away into the sky before disappearing completely. "Is that what the umbrella is for or does she just do that automatically?" Rei had asked.

Ragyo looked at Rei and said, "The umbrella is there to keep her from floating off the earth's atmosphere." Ragyo had heard enough about Kumagawa for one day. She was not absolutely attentive to some student who had willingly become an enemy of REVOCS for something as foolish as keeping a political position. There were other concerns in her daily life. "How are our factories in Malaysia proceeding?"

Rei hesitated in telling Ragyo the news. It was normally good news to tell Ragyo about any instance where life-fibers were spread further across the world, however...

"...They were raided."

"I see," Ragyo propped her head. It wasn't unusual for some third world paramilitary or government to come in and raid a REVOCS factory for their potent and effective Life-fibers. This is something which she had planned for.

"That is of no concern," she said as she turned her seat to face the sky. More humans wearing Life-fiber infused clothing meant more food for the Primordial's consumption.

"Um, actually," this is the part which Rei had shuddered in saying. "The Life-fibers in the factories were destroyed as well."

"Eh!?" Ragyo got out of her chair and moved to a screen which showed a map of the whole world and zoomed in on Malaysia. Rei followed from behind. On the cameras, she could see several man and woman dressed in thinly clad harnesses destroying Life-fibers with sewing machine guns. In the center stood a man with a red mohawk who looked to be a captain of the whole group.

"Why was I not informed of this?!" Ragyo bolted in anger.

Rei had backed out in anticipation of Ragyo's anger. "We had just received information of this recently. We suspect an insider had something to do with our signals being jammed and the REVOCS sewing machine guns being stolen from our lab facilities."

Ragyo's eyebrows twitched angrily at the suggestion of some spy being able to fool the entirety of the REVOCS spy network and manipulate it from the shadows. "And who is the man in the center?" she asked as she pointed her finger at the man with the red mohawk.

"Reports are sketchy at best but we do believe him to be a high-ranking member of the paramilitary organization Nudist Beach, which has been responsible for many attacks on our projects in the past. His name is Tsumugu Kinagase, I believe."

Ragyo knew it had to be Nudist Beach. She had developed a whole infantry dedicated to rooting out and destroying Nudist Beach spies. Nui was somewhat of a professional in finding Nudist Beach agents and giving them the slow and painful deaths they so very deserved. And Tsumugu. She had heard that name only once, and it had to do with Isshin Matoi and his research team foolishly attempting to recreate a Kamui only for it to end in a disaster.

"Any reports on where this Tsumugu is currently located?"

Rei had waited for this question. She was more than prepared for the blood rage in which Ragyo would exhibit at her answering of it. Moving back at a safe distance, she told the silver-haired woman, "Our spy networks have reported that the man is currently heading towards Honnou city."

Rather than destroy every piece of furniture in sight, Ragyo just sat their with a contemplative gaze. Rei looked at her with a perplexed stare. This was the first time she had told Ragyo some incredibly bad news in which her reaction was anything but annihilating all matter within the closest vicinity.

"Rei, I want you to give Nui a call and tell her to stick extra close to Kumagawa today."

"Yes, ma'am." It took Rei a few minutes to guess at what Ragyo was suggesting with her order. _Oh... _Rei thought. It was just like Ragyo to put two completely unrelated situations together and come out with a perfectly reasonable explanation. Kumagawa would lead the Grand Couturier to Tsumugu and then that would be one less pig in human clothing to worry about.

* * *

**Later (in Honnoji academy):**

Kumagawa, Suzuki and Shinjiro strode quickly through the campus of Honnoji Academy.

"Kumagawa, can you please remind me why we're doing this?" Suzuki asked with an exasperated tone.

Kumagawa happily gazed at Shinjiro who was holding a stack of newspapers in between his arms and was just as tired as Suzuki. Even so, his eyes were fueled with the heroic determination to see their objective through. The passing-by students made sure to avoid the trio, because, while they were not certain about Shinjiro, they were more than clever enough to avoid getting in the way of whatever Kumagawa and Suzuki were doing at the moment.

"[Didn't I tell you already?]" Kumagawa placed his hand on his chest similar to how Shinjiro did when they first met. "[The evil known as Satsuki Kiryuin must be vanquished both physically and ideologically!]" He turned his head to Shinjiro who was stapling the 31st Newspaper column outlining the atrocities committed by said student. Shinjiro wiped the sweat of his head and continued off from Kumagawa.

"In the schools I visited, I could never get information, that would harm the she-witch, out to the public because her minions would always tear it down before anyone had a chance to read. And those who did were expelled on the spot."

Kumagawa nodded his head. "[But here, she doesn't have any power. We're here to protect Shinjiro as he gets the truth known to the whole world!]"

Suzuki nodded his head in understanding. "Yes..." To him, Kumagawa was more than just his savior. He was like an older brother. He knew to trust Kumagawa's judgement, and would follow him to the ends of hell if he felt so inclined. But that Shinjiro Nagita. He didn't know whether Kumagawa was simply playing around, or if he seriously believed that Shinjiro was just a normal student who got into a tight jam. From the first time they had met to right now, he had always felt something odd coming from Shinjiro. Perhaps he was a Minus just like Kumagawa and him. Even so...

"I hope I haven't disrupted whatever it is you're doing?" a voice had called out to the trio from up top the school's pyre.

"[Satsuki! What're you doing there? You could break your neck!]" Kumagawa said as he approached the center of the entrance. The bell had rung 30 minutes ago, signaling the end of class, so no other student could be seen other then the trio and Satsuki Kiryuin.

"Hmph," Satsuki sounded as her perfectly long black hair waved through the wind. A white light could be seen emanating from her figure that would blind any normal passer-by immediately. Kumagawa was neither normal or a passer-by.

"[Oooooh, sparkly!]" the boy recounted as he stared intently at Satsuki's visage, the light illuminating the dark rings hidden within his eyes. Suzuki and Shinjiro peered around to see speakers stacked on top of the outer walls of the academy.

"Last time, you defeated me and my allies with ease. This time it won't be so simple!" As she snapped her fingers, a quartet of the same students Kumagawa had skewered against the wall appeared from the academy's entrance. They all had the condescending and agitated look Kumagawa had come to expect from his foes. "Consider our truce over!"

"[Oh. It's all my old friends! How's it been?]"

"Bite me, creep," the short one snarked. The four stood in place in front of Kumagawa, Suzuki, and Shinjiro. It seemed that they were waiting for the order to attack.

"Hey, Lady Satsuki, can we take out this guy yet," the one holding a bamboo sword yelled out.

"[So you're going to try and kill me again?]" Kumagawa was no stranger to petty attacks but damn if these guys weren't tenacious. He put his hands in his pockets and grinned confidently. "[What makes you think that you'll be so successful a second time?]"

A smirk appeared on Satsuki's face as she looked down upon Kumagawa. For a moment, she turned the speakers off. Shiro Iori who stood behind her.

"Have you finished the modifications on the Elite Four's Goku Uniforms?" she asked with assurance that the answer would most obviously be yes.

"Yes, Lady Satsuki. Their uniforms should be able to go at twice the speed than before. Also our petition program for the rebellion has been going quite smoothly. More and more students line up to serve in our cause of impeaching Student Council President Kumagawa. Although, they are all mostly violent criminals which Kumagawa had taken care of in the past. But we can use all the help we can get."

Satsuki nodded and turned her head to look down upon the man once again. "Excellent," she said before the speakers turned on once more. She knew that it would take a lot more than power and brute force to defeat Kumagawa. This was simply a warning shot to the boy who would soon be chased out of town with his tail between his legs. Once Kumagawa had been impeached, there would be nothing he could do, and she would be free to take the reins of the academy. All of a sudden, her face had frozen in place as the "boy" known as Shinjiro, within Kumagawa's group, had caught her eye.

"This is bad, Kumagawa!" Shinjiro said in a panicked tone as he accidently dropped his entire set of newspapers. Before he could pick all of them up, the wind blew one of the papers into Gamagori's face. "Oh crap!"

"What is this?" Ira asked as he wiped the column off his mug. He began to read the words aloud with a disinterested tone. "In many academies, Satsuki Kiryuin has..."

"What is this mockery I hold in my hand?" He spotted Shinjiro picking up an identical set of papers from the floor. His body doubled in size and leaned towards the Newspaper club member. "Explain yourself!"

"Eeeeee!" Shinjiro screeched in terror as he jumped back a few steps and kneeled down on both knees. "Please forgive me!" He peered at Kumagawa and Suzuki who were just standing there with calm demeanors that conflicted with the dangerous situation they were currently in. "We have to escape somehow!" He examined the space around the entrance for any quick exit, any chance of escape, but the Elite Four surrounded them at all corners.

Kumagawa put a hand on Shinjiro's shoulders and smiled assuredly. "[Relax, Shinji-kun.]" He turned his neck to gaze back at Satsuki. "[Does this mean you've found a way to counter my [All-Fiction]?]"

_[All-Fiction]? _Shinjiro pondered in his head at what that exactly meant.

A scowl could be seen on Satsuki's expression at the saying of those words. "Indeed, I have found a way to counter that disgusting ability of yours!" She gripped her sword which was firmly planted on the ground and continued with her eyebrows furrowing in anticipation.

"I have augmented our Goku uniforms' speed by twice the normal capacity. I know now, that with that ability, a Minus as you call it, we would never be able to completely defeat you. So I've decided that incapacitating you would be just the next best thing. Look around you! Until your impeachment has reached it's final stage, my Elite Four shall wait for you at this entrance at all times. You won't ever be able to reach this academy and influence its residents."

She extended her arms as a condescending grin began to take place on her face. "It will be something akin to banishment. Any time you so much as step on a block of pavement owned by this academy, my Elite Four will show up to decimate you! Their speed should now be able to match yours! You will be given a continuous death for all eternity!" She calmed her arms and regained her trademark frown before turning her back on the soon-to-be decimated Minus. "A continuous death is the same as an actual death, Kumagawa."

Kumagawa listened intently to Satsuki's predictably long speech. At the end of it, he shouted, "[Congratulations, Satsuki-chan! You've finally found my one true weakness! It's only a matter of time before you take my presidency away from me as well!]"

Satsuki was shocked by the cheerfulness in Kumagawa's voice as he said that. "Y-yes," she said in a stifled tone. She had known the man to be a compulsive liar. This was most certainly just something he said to trip her up. "We shall see..." Those were the last words she said before giving the hand signal for the Elite Four to begin their assault.

"Finally," Uzu announced as his eyes gleamed in anticipation. He gazed at Kumagawa with a friendly grin disguising his disgust at the boy. Coming up to the boy, but at the same time, keeping his distance, he introduced himself. "My name is Uzu Sanageyama. We hadn't had a chance to be properly introduced last time, but I'll be the guy kicking your ass until graduation hits." He hadn't even offered Kumagawa his hand. He wasn't an idiot.

"[It's a pleasure to meet you, Uzu-chan!]" the boy smiled.

"If you're done flirting with him, would you just transform already," Nonon demanded from behind. She too wanted to introduce herself to Kumagawa and promptly grind his face into the dirt.

A light engulfed Uzu Sanageyama as he transformed into the automaton samurai which Kumagawa had come to expect. The others soon followed.

"The name's Nonon Jakuzure, creep." A pink light covered her and soon a giant artillery craft was hovering over the entire campus. "And before you ask, Lady Satsuki's mine and mine alone!"

Kumagawa gazed at the avion girl as if he was watching fireworks. The large one began to transform as well.

"I'm sure we have been introduced already!" Gamagori started whipping himself mercilessly just as he did last time. Suddenly, tentacles started bursting out of his Goku uniform as his suit reached climax. Kumagawa made sure to dodge all the tentacles this time.

"[Ira Gamagori, right?]" Kumagawa said with a perturbed smile. Out of the entire group, Gamagori had to be the weirdest of the lot.

Finally, the boy with teal hair and blue glasses transformed into a thin suit that seemed to have keyboards etched on to it, as he was repeatedly pressing keys marked all over his body. "Hoka Inumuta," he said with a confident tone. He was the farthest away within the group and that's where he preferred to be. Going into a battle head-on was just not his style. He rather favorited providing the support role to his team with his Goku Uniform's analytic ability.

In a split-second, Kumagawa had disappeared from his location near the entrance and appeared right in front of Inumuta's face, shocking almost everyone who had witnessed his impossible speed. "[Oh, I remember you! I really enjoyed the conversation we had back at the Student Council room. Let's do it again some time!]"

"Y-yes..." Hoka answered, just as surprised at Kumagawa's speed, despite knowing what his Minus was capable of. In a split-second, Kumagawa had disappeared from the space near Inumuta and casually reappeared in the location he was in previously, like he had been there the entire time.

Suzuki stepped up from where he was sitting and asked Kumagawa, "Want me to take care of these clowns?"

Kumagawa turned his neck to look at the boy and was surprised to see Suzuki's determined expression. He had seen Suzuki's fights before and knew to trust the boy's prowess. With a final nodding of the head and an agreeing gleam, "[Knock yourself out]" he responded.

With a grin, Suzuki stepped up confidently to the Elite Four. Shinjiro couldn't believe what he was witnessing. To him, Suzuki looked like nothing more than an ordinary student. No, that would be an insult to ordinary students everywhere! He was short, pudgy, and generally awkward if not spastic. He looked more accustomed to picking flowers from a garden than fighting. From his time of knowing the boy, he had seen nothing special about him whatsoever. And yet, here he was, about to single handedly take on the Elite Four of all people! Shinjiro had to wonder what Kumagawa was thinking, sending his friend to an untimely death.

"What the hell are you thinking, Kumagawa-san!?" he nagged at the other boy. "Those people will destroy him!"

"[Relax, Shinji-kun,]" Kumagawa replied. "[Shouldn't we be headed on our way. We still have columns to staple.]"

Shinjiro looked at his arms to see a stack of papers still being carried. He could spot Kumagawa walking ahead of him, about to go past the Elite Four. With a worried expression on, he reluctantly followed. "That's not important right now!"

As they crept past the Elite Four, Shinjiro began to think, _This is it. We're done for._

"Come back here immediately!" Gamagori said as he and the others attempted to chase after the two.

Shinjiro knew that he and Kumagawa were about to be given a beating of a lifetime. And yet, the way Kumagawa nonchalantly strode past the Elite Four towards the school's main entrance; it was almost like he was expecting...

Before the Elite Four could get within two meters of the two students, Suzuki had instantly appeared in front of them. The sudden appearance of the boy, who not a few seconds ago was standing all the way at the other side of the entrance, caused the entire Elite Four to jump back in shock.

"Nani!?" Nonon shouted in disbelief.

Suzuki grinned. "I got your back guys!"

Shinjiro stared at the scene with utter disbelief. When he turned his head to Kumagawa, he could see him smiling calmly as he placed his hand on the school doorway. "[Looks like you all failed to stop me! Come on Shinji-kun.]"

With no confirmation on whether the insanity he just witnessed was real or not, Shinjiro simply nodded his head and followed the boy into the hallway.

"Damn it!" Uzu growled in anger. He was interrupted by a smiling Suzuki putting his hand in his pockets and gleaming up at the Elite Four the way a predator observed its prey.

"Hello," he began. "If you don't already know who I am, my name's Suzuki Chihiro, and I'm the General Affairs Manager of the Student Council."

"Despite what anyone else would tell you, most of the punks who threatened the peace of the academy were taken care of by me."

Uzu's scowl sank deeper at this boy's nonchalant introduction. "Get out of the way," he said as he positioned his sword over the grinning boy's head.

With a simple snap of Suzuki's fingers, the kendo stick had magically cracked into tiny pieces. "What!" Uzu yelled in dismay as a giant crater began to open up under his legs. He and the Elite Four moved back a few inches away from Suzuki who was standing perfectly still on top of the shaking ground. Even Nonon moved back despite being up in the air. She felt the same aura emanating from Suzuki as she did with Kumagawa.

Continuing with his introduction, Suzuki said, "I warn you, I'm not as lenient and merciful as Student Council President Kumagawa. If you're going to attack me, I suggest you go all out. If you don't attack me with your full strength, I might just kill all of you!"

Despite the cheerful way in which he said those words, everyone could see that he was dead serious. "I ain't got the time to deal with you," Uzu remarked before charging at Suzuki at top speed. Even though both Suzuki and Kumagawa could travel at impossible speeds, the augmentation of his uniforms should've been able to give him an edge in the battle. The others soon followed.

Suzuki was dodging the combined might of Uzu's kendo swords and Gamagori's whips at an incredible pace that would appear completely unrealistic considering his stout figure.

"Take this!" Nonon shouted as she revved up her music blast. Before she could charge them up completely, one of her engines somehow failed causing her to collide to the ground. "Shit!"

Inumuta simply gazed at the ensuing clusterfuck. He had analyzed Suzuki's form for any weakness, but no matter how much he digged into his data files, he could not find a single solution to the puzzle that was Suzuki Chihiro. Of course, this was almost to be expected when trying to find a rational answer to defeating something as irrational as a Minus. Bandit's Luck, or so it was called. It had the power to make, whatever Suzuki perceived to be, the worst situation happen. The word that struck Inumuta the hardest was "perceived". This meant that Suzuki had absolute control over what the worst situation would be at all times. Whether it was simply dodging his friend's attacks with impossible reflexes, or making Nonon's engine fail at the worst possible time. No matter how he looked at it, Suzuki was in complete control of the fight from the very start. But even so, no ordinary person would ever think about the worst situation in a way that made them exactly want it to happen. Suzuki Chihiro must have possessed extraordinary discipline in doing so. No, it was more like that focused pessimism came naturally to him.

Uzu was about to hit the grinning boy, who for the past few minutes had been tirelessly dodging all of his attacks, with his ultimate finisher. "MEN! DOU! KOTE!"

Rather than get hit by Uzu's lightning fast slash, Suzuki lazily dodged and casually floated in front of the helmet covering Uzu's face. It took him two seconds to notice what had happened. "Nani!?"

"Let me explain something to you," Suzuki said as he rubbed his hand on the metal of Sanageyama's helmet. Uzu couldn't move. He was quite literally paralyzed with fear. He had felt that same monstrous negativity Kumagawa often exerted, coming from this boy who was somehow suspended in air. "My Minus is Bandit's Luck. It's makes anything I perceive to be the worst situation happen. Anything! For instance..." Suzuki positioned his fingers right on top of Uzu's helmet.

"Sanageyama! Get out of there!" Gamagori yelled out in distress.

"The worst situation would be you flying into a nearby wall at top speed with your entire armor instantly tearing apart when I finger-flick your forehead." Just as he had said, Uzu had felt such a tremendous force from Suzuki's light finger-flick across his forehead that it had instantly propelled him into a nearby wall with his entire armor falling apart at the seams. The force in which he hit the concrete broke several bones in his body. The rest of the Elite Four could only watch in horror as Suzuki casually landed on the ground without so much as breaking a sweat.

_He's a monster! _they all collectively thought.

"Now then," Suzuki said as he smiled brokenly at the rest of the Elite Four. "A few broken bones and some traumatic memories should be enough of a punishment for attacking the Student Council. Don't you guys agree?"

* * *

Throughout the whole scene, a familiar man with a red mohawk stood on top his vantage point on the roof garden of Honnoji Academy and watched Suzuki's and the Elite Four's battle through the scope of his M-98 Anti LIfe-fiber Model Type-2 (It wasn't as good as the Type-3 but how could he complain). Throughout the whole scuffle, he had witnessed two things which troubled him. One, Satsuki's Elite Four were already in the school campus, meaning that REVOCS had most certainly taken over the school already. And two, they were getting their asses handed to them on a silver platter by some fatass shorty who looked like he wasn't even trying.

"This is definitely a strange place," Kinagase said to himself as he edged the rifle scope towards the windows of Honnoji's hallways. It took a few a minutes but Kinagase had finally discovered Kumagawa walking through the halls with some other student, he had never seen before, following behind him. Before he went into the city, he had asked one of the local Nudist Beach agencies to provide him with a printed picture of Kumagawa Misogi. They said that they had none of any sort, but that since he was the Student Council President, he shouldn't be hard to miss. As a helpful hint, they told Kinagase that, unlike the other students at Honnoji, Kumagawa wore a buttoned-up male uniform that looked to be from some other academy.

And when Kinagase snuck into the city, making sure to avoid eye-contact with any random civilian should they be spies for REVOCS, he saw that the agency was valid in its assumption that Kumagawa would be easy to spot. No other male student wore a black, buttoned-up uniform. The moment Kinagase had spotted Kumagawa through his rifle scope, he knew with absolute certainty that it had to be him. _But who was that other guy..._

Nonetheless, an enemy of Nudist Beach, whether Life-fiber infused or not, would have to be eliminated. He took a pair of Sewing Machine Guns from his large duffle bag and proceeded to infiltrate the school ground. Despite him carrying a sniper rifle all the way here, he had liked to kill his enemies up, close and personal, when he could.

* * *

**Meanwhile:**

"Bandit's luck?" Shinjiro asked in a bewildered tone as he and Kumagawa strode through the academy's halls. Based on the conversations with Kumagawa and Satsuki which he had listened intently to, and his own conversations with the boy, he had figured that there had to be something at play which gave Kumagawa the ability to do all those reality defying stunts. But an ability that seemed right out of manga was the last thing he had expected. And the normally weak and feeble Suzuki having one as well made his head spin in confusion.

"[Mhm hm]" Kumagawa answered as he stapled the last of the news column on Honnoji's billboard. "[It let's him make anything he perceives to be the worst situation happen!]"

"Anything?" Shinjiro asked with confusion in his voice.

"[Yep, anything! He can make absolutely anything happen as long as he perceives it to be the worst situation. He can make dogs talk, levitate in the air...]"

He turned to Shinjiro who was writing stuff down into his notepad. "[He could even destroy the world if he felt like it!]"

It took Shinjiro three seconds to process the words that had just entered his ears. "NANI!?" he immediately yelled out. He could not at all believe what he had just heard from Kumagawa. The fact that the boy had said it in such a composed tone of voice drew on to his disbelief more so.

"I-is that true? Could h-he really destroy the world...just like that?" he asked enclasped with certainty that Kumagawa was just messing with him. Kumagawa turned around and muttered something to himself. From his muttering, Shinjiro could only make out a softly spoken sentence. "[Man, that was such a difficult mess to clean up last time.]"

Shinjiro froze in place, now knowing the answer to his question and wishing he hadn't asked it in the first place. The way Kumagawa had said it in such a nostalgic tone of voice confirmed it even more. Shinjiro wrote a mental note in his brain that if he were to ever meet up with Suzuki again, he would do everything in his effort not to make fun of the boy's height.

Kumagawa knocked off a bead of sweat as he stared across the hallway to see the columns stretching for miles on end. "[Yay, we're finally done with this boring task.]"

Shinjiro placed his hands on his knees in a similarly exhausted manor. "Yeah, I..." Suddenly, his head rung with the alarm that something incredibly bad was about to happen. "Get down!" With no hesitation, the boy grabbed Kumagawa by the shirt and immediately ducked to the floor.

It looked like his intuition was on mark as a collection of bombs simultaneously exploded over the duo's heads as they lay on the ground. When the explosions finished, Shinjiro got up to see nearly half the hallway wiped out. Wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead and scratching his neck, the boy could only look in astonishment at all the destruction that had taken place in just one second. Edging his head to the ground, he noticed a note kept in place by a dagger sitting on the ground. Picking it up, he read, "Staying at the gymnasium. Come and meet me if you survived that explosion. End." Putting the note down, Shinjiro spotted Kumagawa standing in front of him with his back turned.

"Kumagawa-san. I think we should do what this man says-"

"[All of our work...]" the Minus muttered with the tuft of his hair darkening the area along his eyes.

"What?" Shinjiro responded.

"[All of our work gone... Shinji-kun...]"

"Um, Kumagawa." He had realized Kumagawa was more upset with their news columns in the halls being destroyed in the explosion more than his life nearly getting taken by a hundred bombs. "I don't think that's exactly important right now." He brought the note up to Kumagawa's face which looked like it was still taking in the destruction of the billboard. "The guy who did this said he's going to be in the gymnasium. So we should probably go there and- Wait, where are you going?"

Kumagawa suddenly started moving down the hallway. Upon hearing Shinjiro's question, he turned to to the student and gave him such a cold gaze that it had nearly frozen every single blood cell within Shinjiro's body. "[Isn't it obvious? I'm going to go and 'greet' him.]" He turned around and continued on his way.

"S-scary!" Shinjiro shuddered before following along.

* * *

**Two hours later: **

Kinagase Tsumugu sat on top of some gym equipment as he waited for Kumagawa Misogi to respond to his note. Although he had not expected him to take such a long time in doing so. Perhaps he should've detonated a few more bombs to let the guy know that he wasn't messing around.

As the gymnasium doors opened, he lit up a cigarette and took a puff out of it before greeting Kumagawa and his friend. "Kumagawa Misogi, I presume?"

Kumagawa and Shinjiro entered through the obscenely large door of the gymnasium and saw a young-looking man with a red mohawk wearing a mercenary-like black uniform. Draped along his shoulders and chest were several explosives as well as a strangely-shaped pair of guns.

"[That would be me... Yes!]" the black-haired boy had answered. Shinjiro gazed at him and then at the mercenary and then back at Kumagawa. Even after two hours, Kumagawa had carried that overbearing killing intent hidden through his smiling facade. The mercenary, on the other hand, looked like he had been prepared to fight off a small army. These two meeting could not end well at all!

"Do you arrive late often?" Kinagase asked as he took another puff of his cigarette. He was interrupted when something hit his cigarette with incredible speed and accuracy before he could even have a chance to react. When he reared his head back, he saw his cigarette pierced along the wall by a large screw.

"[Ha ha ha]" Kumagawa chuckled in a static, almost inhumane tone of voice. "[Forgive me if my lateness annoys you. You see, I had a lot of trouble recognizing the academy that you so willingly turned into a battlefield! I got lost so many times before finding my way here.]"

The mercenary stayed silent throughout Kumagawa's rant. The boy gazed at him with equal parts confusion and annoyance.

"[And may I ask why it is you've visited and trampled all over our fine academy here, today, sir?]"

Kinagase un-holstered his guns and aimed them at Kumagawa. "To eliminate you!" he finally answered back. Before meeting with Kumagawa, Kinagase had, in small part, considered the theory that Kumagawa was indeed a normal boy who had simply gotten mixed into something bad, instead of a Life-fiber infused REVOCS agent, as was the idea that brought him to this school in the first place. If Kumagawa had behaved as the former, Kinagase might've considered letting him go and maybe even offering him Nudist Beach's protection.

This idea, however, was crushed at this exact moment of meeting him. He had witnessed nothing ordinary or normal about the boy known as Kumagawa Misogi. Cocking his weapons towards Kumagawa, he said, "You will die here today, REVOCS dog!"

"[Oh...]" The boy put his hand on his chin and tilted his head in a manner similar to someone else he had known.

Without a moment's hesitation he pulled the triggers on his sewing machine guns and shouted, "DIEEEEEEEEE!"

**End of chapter**


End file.
